2012 IndyCar Series

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 17th season of the IndyCar Series, and the 101st season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the Indianapolis 500|96th Indianapolis 500], held on Sunday, May 27. The series was sanctioned by IndyCar, and took place in three countries on two continents. Chevrolet returned to the series for the first time since 2005 while Lotus debuted, with the latter leaving the IndyCar Series after the 2012 season due to poor performance.
Three-time defending IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti entered the season seeking his fourth consecutive championship and fifth overall. Meanwhile, two-time championship runner up Will Power sought his first title. Heading into the final race of the season, Power led Ryan Hunter-Reay by 17 points in a two driver fight for the championship. After Power wrecked on lap 55, Hunter-Reay was able to finish 4th, and claimed the championship by 3 points.
Among the numerous stories going into the season was the departure of Danica Patrick, who left IndyCar to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Joining the series was former Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello. A highlight of the season was the introduction of a new chassis and engine package.
After losing Las Vegas as a venue in the aftermath of the 2011 IZOD [IndyCar World Championship|death] of Dan Wheldon, the series welcomed the return of such venues as Belle Isle street circuit|Detroit] and Fontana. In addition, midway through the season, the inaugural Indy [Qingdao 600] scheduled to take place in China was cancelled by the promoter.
It was a triumphant return for Chevrolet after returning from a 6-year absence, and an average year for Honda topped by an unexpectedly good performance at the 500 after poor qualifying, and thus Chevrolet ended the Japanese engine manufacturer's nine-year supremacy.

Drivers and teams

All chassis are composed of a Dallara DW12 "IndyCar Safety Cell" base and aerokit in 2012. All teams will run Firestone tires.

Team

Engine

No.

Driver

Rounds

A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Honda

Team and driver changes

Team Penske: Team utilized full-works Chevrolet engines beginning in 2012 and thus Team Penske earned full-factory support from Chevrolet including free engines and official road vehicles. The entire three car team returns full-time in 2012. Briscoe will switch numbers from #6 to #2.
Ganassi Racing">Chip Ganassi Racing">Ganassi Racing: Team utilized Honda engines in 2012. The entire four-car team will return in 2012.
Andretti Autosport: The team utilized customer Chevrolet engines in 2012. Marco Andretti will be in the third year of a 4-year contract with the team in 2012 Ryan Hunter-Reay signed with Andretti Autosport through the 2012 season. 2011 driver Danica Patrick left the team to compete in the Nationwide series full-time along with limited Sprint Cup Schedule. The team announced on August 26, 2011, that GoDaddy will return as a primary sponsor through 2013. Andretti confirmed that Dan Wheldon had signed a deal with Andretti to replace Patrick in the #7 GoDaddy car, but was killed at Las Vegas. James Hinchcliffe drove the GoDaddy car, and the number switched from #7 to #27, the same used by fellow Canadian drivers Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve. The team confirmed Sebastián Saavedra and Ana Beatriz for the Indy 500.
Newman/Haas Racing: The team announced that it would not contest the full 2012 season on December 1, 2011. Jean Alesi was announced to drive for the team at the Indianapolis 500. The entry was later withdrawn.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports: The team ran Honda engines in 2012. The team announced Simon Pagenaud as its first driver on December 8 and that a second full-time car was "likely", but Pagenaud was the team's lone entry to start the season. On May 3, 2012, the team confirmed that Townsend Bell would drive the #99 car for Schmidt Pelfrey Motorsports.
A. J. Foyt Enterprises: Mike Conway replaces Vítor Meira as the team driver. The team ran Honda engines in 2012. The team confirmed Wade Cunningham for the Indy 500. Cunningham also raced in the season finale after Conway sat out over safety concerns on oval tracks.
Panther Racing: J. R. Hildebrand signed a multi-year deal in 2011 to drive the #4 National Guard car for the team.
KV Racing Technology: The team ran Chevrolet engines in 2012. Driver Tony Kanaan signed a multi-year contract to return to the team in 2012. The team confirmed the return of E. J. Viso, switching to the #5 car. Rubens Barrichello was confirmed to be driving the full season with the team at a press conference in Brazil on March 1.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing: In November, the team announced that they had signed on as a Lotus works team for 2012. Oriol Servià signed to be one of the team's drivers, but efforts to field a second entry failed to materialize.
HVM Racing: Simona de Silvestro returned as a full-time driver for the team in 2012. The team was the anchor team for the new Lotus engines in 2012.
Dale Coyne Racing: Owner Dale Coyne confirmed that the team would return with two cars in 2012, with Honda engines. Justin Wilson and James Jakes both returned.
Conquest Racing: While Éric Bachelart stated the team will have at least one full-time car in 2012. Difficulties securing an engine lease and a subsequent American Le Mans Series LMP2 program kept Conquest's IndyCar plans on hold.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: The team purchased two DW12 chassis. The cars were powered by Honda engines. The team confirmed Takuma Sato as one of their drivers in early February 2012. The team confirmed a second car at the Indy 500, to be driven by Michel Jourdain Jr.
Bryan Herta Autosport: The team budgeted money to buy two Dallara DW12 chassis. The team confirmed Alex Tagliani on January 9, 2012.
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing: Driver Ed Carpenter has left to form his own team. 2011 Indy Lights champ Josef Newgarden was the team's driver for 2012. The team will be powered by Honda engines. The team confirmed Bryan Clauson for the Indy 500.
Dragon Racing: The team intended to run two full-time cars, with drivers Sébastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge. The team will be powered by Lotus engines. Legge has signed a multi-year deal with the team to drive the #6 car. However, after switching from Lotus to Chevrolet engines, they were forced to contract to a single entry after the Indianapolis 500.
MSR Indy: The team is owned by Mike Shank, A. J. Allmendinger, and Columbus area businessman Brian Bailey. The team was intended to use Lotus engines. The team has purchased a DW12 chassis with the goal of running a full-time IndyCar program in 2012, and took delivery of their chassis on December 15. Unfortunately, the team did not secure the necessary funding to begin the season with often rumored, but never confirmed, driver Paul Tracy. The team originally confirmed Jay Howard for the Indy 500, but Shank released Howard in early May due to the inability to get an engine.
Ed Carpenter Racing: Driver Ed Carpenter and his stepfather Tony George formed a new team, Ed Carpenter Racing. Carpenter was the full-time driver in 2012. The team confirmed a second car for the Indy 500, but the entry was later withdrawn.

The ICONIC Project

The 2012 season saw the implementation of IndyCar's new ICONIC Plan, the biggest change to the sport in recent history. The car used through 2011, a 2003/2007-model Dallara IR-03, and normally aspirated V8 engines were permanently retired. The ICONIC committee was composed of experts and executives from racing and technical fields: Randy Bernard, William R. Looney III, Brian Barnhart, Gil de Ferran, Tony Purnell, Eddie Gossage, Neil Ressler, Tony Cotman and Rick Long. IndyCar accepted proposals from BAT Engineering, Dallara, DeltaWing, Lola and Swift for chassis design. On July 14, 2010, the final decision was made public, with organisers accepting the Dallara proposal.

New chassis

Under the new ICONIC regulations, all teams will compete with a core rolling chassis, called the "IndyCar Safety Cell", developed by Italian designer Dallara. Teams will then outfit the chassis with separate body work, referred to as "Aero Kits", which consist of front and rear wings, sidepods, and engine cowlings. Development of Aero Kits is open to any manufacturer, with all packages to be made available to all teams for a maximum price. ICONIC committee member Tony Purnell gave an open invitation to car manufacturers and companies such as Lockheed Martin and GE to develop kits.
The IndyCar Safety cell will be capped at a price of $349,000 and will be assembled at a new Dallara facility in Speedway, Indiana. Aero Kits will be capped at $70,000. Teams have the option of buying a complete Dallara safety cell/aero kit for a discounted price.
On May 12, 2011, Dallara unveiled the first concept cars, one apiece in oval and road course Aero Kit configuration.
On April 30, 2011, IndyCar owners voted 15–0 to reject the introduction of multiple Aero Kits for the 2012 season, citing costs. Owners expressed their desire to introduce the new chassis/engines for 2012, but have all participants use the Dallara aerodynamic package in 2012, and delay the introduction of multiple aero kits until 2013. On August 14, 2011, IndyCar confirmed that the introduction of multiple Aero Kits would be delayed until 2013 for "economic reasons," and furthermore, it was put off for 2013 as well. Chevrolet and Lotus had already announced their intention to build aero kits.
2011 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon carried out the first official test of the Dallara chassis at Mid-Ohio in August 2011. Following Wheldon's death at the season-ending race in Las Vegas, Dallara announced that the 2012 chassis would be named the DW12 in his honor.
Despite the generational change of chassis and engines, the wheel rim and Firestone Firehawk tire sizes would remain same until at least 2024 season.

Fuel cell capacity

The fuel cell capacity of the new Dallara DW12 car was reduced from to in an effort of fuel efficiency.

Engine formula

Turbochargers returned to the IndyCar Series for the first time since the IRL 1996 and Champ Car 2007 seasons respectively after one-year delay. The newly-revolutionary third generation fuel-efficient engines are single and twin-turbocharged engines, tuned to produce a range of with a 12,000 RPM limit. The maximum engine displacement was reduced from, the number of cylinders were scaled-down from eight to six and the engine shape will remain V-shaped. All engines will run E85 fuel; from 2007 to 2011, the series utilized 100% fuel grade ethanol.
The turbochargers are provided by BorgWarner. The third generation of IndyCar Series engines will be used until 2026 season.

Suppliers

On November 12, 2010, Chevrolet was confirmed as an engine supplier for 2012 with a twin turbo V6. The initial list of potential suppliers included Ford, Cosworth, and Mazda. Honda announced a 2.2-liter turbo V6 developed fully by Honda Performance Development. On May 27, 2011, Ganassi and Honda announced their partnership renewal for 2012. On August 19, 2010, Cosworth announced their interest in providing an inline-four engine, however, the plan was eventually scrapped. The Chevrolet engine is built in a joint effort with Ilmor who last time partnered Chevrolet in 1997–2002 and Honda in 2003–2011, and was introduced in full-works partnership with Penske Racing.
The third engine supplier was announced November 18, 2010 at the LA Auto Show, just prior to the league deadline. Lotus announced a twin turbo V6 engine and an Aero Kit. built in a partnership with John Judd and Jack Brabham Judd engines were used in the CART series and at the Indy 500 from 1987 to 1992, as well as in sports car racing and F1. Lotus has suffered difficulty in both power and delivery of engines and has since pulled out of the sport.

Confirmed engine suppliers

The arrival of Chevrolet and Lotus as IndyCar Series engine suppliers were marked the return of multiple engine suppliers since 2005 season when Chevrolet and Toyota were Honda engine competitors.

Rule changes

Any engine changes for an engine that has run less than 1,850 miles will result in 10-place grid penalty at the next race. Further, full-time entries are limited to 5 engines per season. There will be two exceptions:
*If an engine fails during a race, in which a new engine may be installed for the next event without penalty.
*At Indianapolis, all engine penalties will be served at the next race at Detroit. Further, all full-time season entries will receive a new engine penalty-free between Bump Day & Carb Day.
Beginning at Long Beach for all remaining road/street course events, the pits will remain open throughout non-emergency full-course cautions periods. Previously the pits immediately closed upon the display of the caution flag. The series hopes this will shorten caution periods to as few as two laps.
Also beginning at Long Beach for all remaining road/street course events, cars that are not on the lead lap during an upcoming restart in the final 20 laps will peel off and drive through pit lane on the speed limiter and cycle back to the end of the line. The rule was later expanded to oval races as well, where lead-lap cars will simply drive to the front in position order instead. This is similar to NASCAR's restart procedure, where all lapped cars must move to the rear of the field.
For the races at Indianapolis, Texas, and California, restarts will revert to single-file in response to safety concerns.

Schedule

The 2012 schedule included the following 15 races:

Icon	Legend
	Oval/Speedway
	Road course
	Street circuit
C	Cancelled race

Rnd	Date	Race name	Track	Location
1	March 25	Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida
2	April 1	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama	Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama
3	April 15	[Grand Prix of Long Beach\|38th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach]	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
4	April 29	Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300	Streets of São Paulo	São Paulo, Brazil
5	May 27	96th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana
6	June 3	Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix	Belle Isle	Detroit, Michigan
7	June 9	Firestone 550	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas
8	June 16	Milwaukee IndyFest	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
9	June 23	Iowa Corn Indy 250	Iowa Speedway	Newton, Iowa
10	July 8	Honda Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
11	July 22	Edmonton Indy	Edmonton [City Centre Airport Speedway]	Edmonton, Alberta
12	August 5	Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
C	August 19	Indy Qingdao 600	Streets of Qingdao	Qingdao, China
13	August 26	GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma	Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, California
14	September 2	Grand Prix of Baltimore	Streets of Baltimore	Baltimore, Maryland
15	September 15	MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships	Auto Club Speedway	Fontana, California

Schedule development

Existing race contracts

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will continue through 2013. City officials look to extend the contract through 2014.
Barber Motorsports Park signed a three-year deal through 2012.
An agreement has been signed with the city of Long Beach to extend the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach to 2015 with an option through 2020.
The São Paulo Indy 300 has a contract through 2019.
The Honda Indy Toronto has renewed its contracts through 2014.
The Edmonton Indy has a contract in place through 2013.
The contract for the Baltimore Grand Prix runs through 2015. However, an issue with the promoter has been in dispute and a new promoter was scheduled to be announced in mid-February. In May 2012, it was announced that Race On LLP and Andretti Sports Marketing had reached a five-year agreement with the City of Baltimore.
Michael Andretti has been announced as the new promoter of the Milwaukee 225. The race, not originally on the INDYCAR schedule, was announced February 10, and is now known as the Milwaukee IndyFest.

New/Returning races

Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix returns to the schedule for 2012, having been removed after the 2008 event.
The series will return to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for a 500-mile night race on Saturday, September 15, 2012.

Potential races

A fifteen-race calendar was announced in December 2011; however, amid speculation of a race being organized in Fort Lauderdale, it was reported in January 2012 that the series needed sixteen races in order to fulfill obligations to sponsors.
After the cancellation of the China race, it was believed that IndyCar would need to replace it to fulfill sponsorship obligations. Road America, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Michigan, and a second race at Texas were considered. However, on June 25, IndyCar announced that the schedule would remain at 15 races.

Discontinued races

The series did not return to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2012.
The Indy Japan 300 did not return in 2012.
The series did not return to the Kentucky Speedway after IndyCar failed to reach an agreement with the track.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway was removed from the calendar in the aftermath of Dan Wheldon's death.

Cancelled race

The series was supposed to visit China for the first time; the Indy Qingdao 600 was to be held on a 3.87-mile street circuit in Qingdao over the weekend of August 19, with plans to build a permanent road course for future seasons. However, this race was cancelled by the promoter on June 13.

Testing

The first official test of the Dallara DW12 chassis was carried out by Dan Wheldon at Mid-Ohio on August 8, 2011. Phase I of testing involved Wheldon, and was planned to involve three road courses and three ovals, over a total of about twelve days. The second test was held August 18 at Barber, and the third was held on the USGP road course at Indianapolis on September 1. Oval tests took place in September at Iowa and Indianapolis.
Honda and Chevrolet began Phase II of on-track testing at Mid-Ohio in early October. A scheduled test at Las Vegas was cancelled after the fatal crash of Dan Wheldon. Testing resumed in late October and continued through February at several venues including Sebring, Fontana, Homestead, Phoenix, and Sonoma. Lotus first took to the track on January 12 at Palm Beach, and testing by individual teams began on January 16.
A full-field official open test took place on March 5–6 & 8–9, 2012 at Sebring International Raceway.
Full-field oval open tests are scheduled for April 4, 2012 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and for May 7, 2012 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Points standings

Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.

Driver standings

One point is awarded to any driver who leads at least one lap during a race. Two additional points are awarded to the driver who leads the most laps in a race.
Bonus points are awarded for qualifying performance:
* At all tracks except Indianapolis, the driver who qualifies on pole earns one point.
* At Indianapolis, drivers who advance to Q2 earn bonus points. Drivers who qualify tenth through twenty-fourth earn four qualifying points, and the remaining qualifying drivers earn three points.

Entrant standings

Based on the entrant, used for oval qualifications order, and starting grids when qualifying is cancelled.
Only full-time entrants, and at-large part-time entrants shown.

Pos	Driver	STP	BAR	LBH	SAO	INDY	BEL	TMS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	2012 [Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio\|MOH]	SON	BAL	CAL	Pts
1	#28 Andretti Autosport	3	12	6	2	27³	7	21	1*	1	1*	7	24	18	1	4	468
2	#12 Team Penske	7	1	1	1*	28⁵	4	8	12	23	15	3	2*	2*	6*	24	465
3	#9 Chip Ganassi Racing	2*	2*	23	17	2¹⁵	1*	18*	11	4	25	10	1	13	4	3	435
4	#3 Team Penske	1	3	13	4	10⁶	17	7	6	6*	6	1	16	6	10	5	431
5	#77 Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	6	5	2*	12	16²³	3	6	13	5	12	20	3	7	3	15	387
6	#2 Team Penske	5	14	7	25	5¹	16	3	14	18	19	8	7	1	2	17	370
7	#10 Chip Ganassi Racing	13	10	15	5	1¹⁶	2	14	19	25	17	6	17	3	13	2	363
8	#27 Andretti Autosport	4	6	3	6	6²	21	4	3	17	22	12	5	26	15	13	358
9	#11 KV Racing Technology with SH	25	21	4	13	3⁸	6	11	2	3	4	18	6	10	20	18	351
10	#38 Chip Ganassi Racing	12	4	24	16	13¹²	19	2	9	9	23	4	11	5	11	6	333
11	#4 Panther Racing	19	15	5	7	14¹⁸	14	5	22	22	7	21	9	8	12	11	294
12	#8 KV Racing Technology	17	8	9	10	11¹⁰	25	24	10	7	11	13	15	4	5	22	289
13	#22 Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	16	13	16	11	4²⁷	5	20	4	21	5	24	25	19	7	19	282
14	#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	22	24	8	3	17¹⁹	20	22	20	12	9	2	13	27	21	7	281
15	#26 Andretti Autosport	14	11	25	14	24*⁴	11	17	15	2	16	14	8	25	14	8	278
16	#83 Chip Ganassi Racing	9	25	18	8	8¹⁴	8	23	17	11	2	19	14	21	18	10	276
17	#18 Dale Coyne Racing	10	19	10	22	7²¹	22	1	23	10	21	9	18	11	17	23	273
18	#98 Bryan Herta Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian	15	26	21		12¹¹	10	9	7	16	10	5*	10	9	8	20	272
19	#20 Ed Carpenter Racing	18	22	14	21	21²⁸	12	12	8	8	18	22	22	20	25	1*	260
20	#5 KV Racing Technology	8	18	12	9	18⁹	18	19	5	24	20	16	20	16	9	25	244
21	#14 A. J. Foyt Racing	20	7	22	19	29²⁹	9	16	16	20	3	11	21	14	16	14	239
22	#19 Dale Coyne Racing	26	16	11	15	15¹⁷	23	10	21	13	8	25	19	12	24	12	232
23	#67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	11	17	26	23	25⁷	15	13	25	19	13	17	12	23	19	16	212
24	#78 Lotus–HVM Racing	24	20	20	24	32³²	13	25	24	14	24	23	23	17	22	26	182
25	#7 Dragon Racing	21	9	17	18	20²⁵	24				14	15	4	22	23		173
26	#6 Dragon Racing	23	23	19	26	22³⁰		15	18	15				24		9	137
Pos	Driver	STP	BAR	LBH	SAO	INDY	BEL	TMS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MOH	SON	BAL	CAL	Pts

The #22 entry was penalized 5 points for a post-race technical infraction at Indianapolis.
The #18 entry was penalized 5 points for a post-race technical infraction at Texas.
The #20 entry was penalized 1 point for a post-race technical infraction at Texas.
The #14 entry was penalized 10 points for a post-race technical infraction at Toronto

Manufacturers' Championship

Manufacturers' Championship points are awarded based on the finishing position of the highest finishing car of each respective manufacturer at each round.

Broadcasting

For 2012, as in recent years, the IndyCar Series schedule split its television coverage between ESPN on ABC and NBC Sports Network. The season finale returned to NBC Sports Network after airing on ABC in 2011.
As a result of logistics, NBC Sports Network aired 2012 Summer Olympics coverage during the time and ESPN's broadcast and production crew were working the NASCAR Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 during a split race weekend for the two NASCAR national series), the August 5 race at Mid Ohio that aired on ABC used the NBC Sports Network crew.
In addition to qualifying and race broadcasts, NBC Sports Network aired IndyCar 36, a documentary series based on NBC's 36 format. Each 30-minute episode features a driver's race weekend. The drivers selected were:

No shows were produced at São Paulo, Detroit, Milwaukee or Edmonton, whereas frontrunners Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon were not featured.