| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Race 15 of 15 in the2012 IndyCar Series season | |
_-_Speedway.svg) | |
| Date | September 15, 2012 |
| Official name | MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships |
| Location | Auto Club Speedway,Fontana,California |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi / 3.219 km |
| Distance | 250 laps 500.000 mi / 804.672 km |
| Weather | 98 °F (37 °C), fair skies[1] |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport) |
| Time | 216.069 mph (347.729 km/h) |
| Driver |  |
| Podium | |
| First | Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing) |
| Second |  Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Third |  Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
The2012MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships[2] was the 15th and final showdown of the2012 IndyCar Series season. The event took place on September 15, at the 2.000-mile (3.219 km)Auto Club Speedway inFontana,California. It was the firstIndyCar race at this facility since2005, the first 500-mile open-wheel race outside Indianapolis since the CART-sanctioned2002 The 500 at Fontana (the planned 2003 CART race was canceled due to wildfires in the area), and the first 500-mile IndyCar Series race outside Indianapolis.[3]
The race, originally scheduled for 400 miles (200 laps), as was the case for the 2002–05 IndyCar races at Auto Club Speedway, reverted to the classic 500 mile, 250-lap distance used at theOntario Motor Speedway for major races and both the six CART FedEx Championship Series races (1997–2002) and the first 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup races (1997–2010) held at Auto Club Speedway. Attendance at the event was estimated to be 25,000 to 30,000 people.[4]
Marco Andretti took his first pole position sinceMilwaukee in 2008 with a two lap average speed of 216.069 mph (347.729 km/h).[5] Over half the field incurred 10-place grid penalties for engine changes, most for an unapproved engine change – engines must clock 1850 miles before they be changed without penalty – however both championship contendersWill Power andRyan Hunter-Reay incurred a penalty for exceeding the five engine limit for the year, both of whom fit their sixthChevrolet engine.[6]
| Row | Inside | Outside | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | Marco Andretti | 216.069 | 2 |  Ryan Briscoe | 216.058 |
| 2 | 11 |  Tony Kanaan | 214.877 | 4 | J. R. Hildebrand | 214.719 |
| 3 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | 214.684 | 8 | Rubens Barrichello | 213.527 |
| 4 | 6 | Katherine Legge(R) | 213.308 | 22 |  Oriol Servià | 212.533 |
| 5 | 10 | Dario Franchitti | 211.999 | 17 |  Sebastián Saavedra | 210.619 |
| 6 | 5 |  E. J. Viso | 210.134 | 19 | James Jakes | 208.056 |
| 7 | 12 | Will Power | 215.940‡ | 67 | Josef Newgarden(R) | 215.919† |
| 8 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 215.391† | 98 |  Alex Tagliani | 215.226† |
| 9 | 3 | Hélio Castroneves | 214.409‡ | 38 | Graham Rahal | 214.015† |
| 10 | 27 | James Hinchcliffe | 213.726† | 77 |  Simon Pagenaud(R) | 213.282† |
| 11 | 15 |  Takuma Sato | 213.222† | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 212.773‡ |
| 12 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 211.531† | 14 | Wade Cunningham(R) | 209.526† |
| 13 | 18 | Justin Wilson | No Speed† | 78 |  Simona de Silvestro | No Speed† |
† Newgarden, Dixon, Tagliani, Rahal, Hinchcliffe, Pagenaud, Sato, Kimball, Cunningham, Wilson and de Silvestro penalized 10 places for unapproved engine change ‡ Power, Castroneves and Hunter-Reay penalized 10 places for exceeding five-engine limit | ||||||
1 Points include 1 point for pole position and 2 points for most laps led.
| Previous race: 2012 Grand Prix of Baltimore | IndyCar Series 2012 season | Next race: 2013 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg |
| Previous race: 2005 Toyota Indy 400 | MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships | Next race: 2013 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships |