FIA WEC/ALMS, 12 Hours of Sebring - Pre-race And Hour One

Aside from the exclusion of the #29 Gulf Lola and the #15 Oak Pescarolo (failed stall test) and #37 Conquest Morgan (late driver change) being moved to the back of the grid we have both the #055 Level 5 HPD (changed tyres after qualifying shunt) and the #77 Felbermayr Proton Porsche are also at the back of the grid (cockpit temperature).

The Falken Tire team meanwhile are frantically working to replace the engine in the #17 car after its expiry in Warm-up.

The #55 JWA Avila Porsche looks set to start from pitlane too - Not a great start for Porsches here! (Clutch replacement).

There's a Get Well Soon message to on the grid to Lola's Dave Scotney - The Dyson Racing team (and for that matter everyone here) rooting for one of the most familiar faces on this and very many other grids we cover - Get well soon to the big man in yellow.

Jean Todt rather fluffs the "Gentleman Start Your Engines call and we're about ready to roll.

All the cars that made the grid are rolling on the formation lap. - #55 remains in pitlane awaiting the start and there's no sign yet of the Falken Porsche as the cars set off on their second pace lap.

The JRM HPD though pits - the team working to clear something from the cockpit and the car is rolling again and Brabham will re-join at the back of the field.

Fantastic effort from the Team Falken Tire team - #17 rolls to the end of the pitlane - under 2 hours and is released - As is the #28 Gulf Racing Lola Nissan - one we hadn't seen on pitlane!

The #45 Flying Lizards Porsche has stopped on the entry to T17 before the start and the #58 Luxury Ferrari pits with frontal damage - Those 2 were together on the grid! #45 is under tow, the left rear wheel fully askew.

The #12 Rebellion Lola is by Jonny Kane as the faster cars go through in grid order, Audis very much to the fore.

No major changes in the GT order either - Moreau is making his way by the GTE leaders in pursuit of the LMP field.

Black Swan Lola pits after lap 2.

Graf is trying to hang on to the Audi train but dropping back a little. Brabham meanwhile is now making his way by the GTE leaders in his recovery drive. 

Henzler is making his way up through the GTC and GTE Am field.

The #155 BMW is set to get a stop go for passing under yellows.

The Black Swan Lola HPD has re-joined the race, losing just about a lap. 

#055 and #37 are dicing through the GTE field as they recover from their back of the grid start.

The pole sitting (and class leading) #51 AF Corse GTE Ferrari pits and goes behind the wall - Vilander at the wheel and, unbelievably, moments later the #61 AF Waltrip car pulls off the circuit too - it re-joins but is lapping very slowly.

The BMW is in the pit for its penalty.

11:45 and we have a full-course caution. The first of the day.

A very slow Ferrari being followed by a safety truck - Rui Aguas not happy and wants a tow instead.

Wave-by taking place - several GT cars passing leader Allan McNish.

#60 has been returned to the pit - clear track again.

Allan McNish pits from the lead.

#44 Starworks Motorsport pits from the P2 lead - several others coming in to make their stop. Including the #54 again.

Still behind the safety car - Audi, Audi, HPD, HPD.

From the pit: #61 alternator problems; #51 believed to be gear change issues; #55 still being worked on the clutch.

11:30 Green flag!

McNish passing in between two lines of cars - clearly not taking any prisoners.

And we have the #28 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola off the track - damage to the right rear.

Spin for the #01 Ferrari - pretty eventful opening hour so far for some of the drivers. 

Incident between Luxury Racing and Flying Lizard regarded as race incident - no further action. How can that be a race incident - without the race actually started?

#61 AF Corse Ferrari fired up in the paddock again - now rolling down pit lane. #51, #58, #45 still in the paddock.

Pit in for the #01 ESM Ferrari.

Dominik Farnbacher was spotted in the paddock apologizing to Bergmeister and the Lizards team for the warm-up lap incident.

#01 has gone behind the wall with a potential alternator issue.

#58 is out of the race - no parts and 'chassis broken'.

Belicchi pits in the #13 Rebellion Lola - gearshift issue.

The #61 AF Waltrip Ferrari is stopped on circuit again - We think oil pump this time!

McNish is back up to 6th - not for long though he's flying, fastest man on track at present in the #2 Audi

Beretta pulls off a brave move up the inside of Gavin for second in GTE/ GT - That's a battle to watch bearing in mind the recent history. 

Fassler pits in the #1 Audi from the lead Timo Bernhard leads in the #3 car.

#15, #28 and #016 all pit, the Gulf Lola still sporting damage.

The #3 Audi pits too, Graf leads for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing and HPD!!  The second year in a row that an LMP1 HPD has led this race.

Now the leading P2s are all pitting - #24, 41, #23 and #25 all in.

JWA Avila and Flying Lizards have 10 minutes to get the #55 and #45 cars out and running.

McNish is up to second, going by Kane on the pit straight. We'd briefly had an HPD 1, 2.

The #13 Rebellion re-joins but pits again next time around.

The #8 Merchant Services PC Oreca is going behind the wall.

Graf pits - McNish leads.

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari re-joins (20 laps down).

Great work by the Lizards, the #45 car makes it out with 90 seconds to spare - Way, way back but they're in the race at least.

The LMP2 class is now led by Potolicchio for Starworks from the Conquest Morgan Judd and Pla in the OAK Morgan third.

LMPC is RSR's #9 car 14th overall for Bruno Junquiera, Popow in the #06 core car second and Dane Cameron running third in the #025 Dempsey racing car.

GTE/ GT is led by Luxury racing's #59 458, Jaime Melo stamping his authority on this one from Beretta in the only undelayed AF Corse Ferrari, #71 and Gavin in the #4 Corvette.

GTE Am is Nic Jonsson's at the moment for Krohn racing, from Paulo Ruberti in the #88 Felbermayr proton Porsche and Pedro Lamy in the #50 Larbre Vette.

GTC meanwhile is Sean Edwards in the #30 car from Damien Faulkner and Kevin Estre in the #34 and #11 respectively.

Hour 1 Summary - Massive, Cautious (Mostly), Horsey, Cautious

Every sports car fan must be aglow about what a fine entry took the start of the 2012 Sebring 12 Hours. The fuses in the brain of every sports car must be aglow as to the difficulty of tracking a race with nine classes.

Perhaps with that in mind, most of the large 63-car starting field made a remarkably careful start. The emphasis is on most as Dominik Farnbacher (No. 58 Ferrari) and Jörg Bergmeister (No. 45 Porsche) had a back-to-front bang-up on the pace lap. The Ferrari made a quick stop for inspection and repairs, but it was pulled from the race. However, the left rear leg of the Lizard was badly broken and needed the bulk of the hour to repair, but at least it did return.

David Brabham (No. 22 JRM HPD) and Jon Fogarty (No. 54 Black Swan LM P2 class Lola) made early pit calls but there were cheers as Wolf Henzler soon entered pit lane as the Falken team completed their valiant effort to replace the motor following its blow-up in warm-up.

Up front it was the expected all Audi lineup with Allan McNish (No. 2), leading Marcel Fässler (No. 1) and Timo Bernard (No. 3). Klaus Graf (No. 6 Muscle Milk HPD) held “Petrol Class” honours.

The P2 class also kept station at the start with Olivier Pla (No. 24 Morgan made of Oak) stationed just ahead of Stephane Sarrazin’s Peugeot, er I mean HPD (No. 44, Starworks). Then came the No. 41 Zytek of Elton Johnian, er I mean Julian. In contrast to the top classes, PC showed Bruno Junqueira (No. 9 ex-Kitty Sitters) with a big lead over the other Oreca-Chevy spec cars.

Toni Vilander had an equally strong lead in GTE-Pro but at about the 15-minute mark the No. 51 AF Corse F458 ducked into the paddock with electrical issues. This promoted Jaime Melo (No. 59 Ferrari) into an equally luxurious lead.  The IMSA GT “sub-class” had a tight intra-Corvette battle between Jan Magnussen (No. 03) and Ollie Gavin (No. 4). The other GT classes, Am and GTC also started with strong and cautious leads. Nic Jonsson had the green No. 57 Krohn Ferrari up front and the all Porsche group had the No. 30 NGT entry of Sean Edwards in first.

Electrical problems afflicted several Prancing Horses with Rui Aguas halting on course in the No. 61 AF Corse entry, bringing out the first double yellow. Significantly, the lead car (McNish) stopped for not only fuel but also tires (different compound under the hotter than expected sun perhaps?). Less significantly, Bill Auberlen (No. 155 RML BMW) had a stop-and-go for passing during the neutralization.

The restart was orderly with Fässler ahead of Bernhard. It was a bit more entropic further back as Fabien Giroix spun, the Gulf widening between failure and success for the troubled Lola Coupe team. Another Ferrari hit electrical problems—albeit the belt supplying power coming loose as the No. 01 F458 returned to the pits with an extreme lack of speed.

Bernhard took over the lead as the hour progressed and then both of the leading Audis made proper scheduled stops. This left Graf in a temporary lead.

JW