The 2012

MAVTV 500 American open-wheel car races had been hosted at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California since its inauguration in 1997 until 2015 (except from 2006 to 2011), under both CART/Champ Car and modern-day IndyCar Series sanctioning, representing a ...

IndyCar World Championships was the 15th and final showdown of the

2012 IndyCar Series season 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 96th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 27. The series was sanctioned by IndyCar, and too ...

. The event took place on September 15, at the

Auto Club Speedway Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It was the first

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

race at this facility since

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, the first 500-mile open-wheel race outside Indianapolis since the CART-sanctioned 2002 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. 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 the

Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: United States Au ...

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.

Report

Qualifying

Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 98 Dallara- Chevrolet for Andretti Global. He formerly drove in the IndyCar Series fo ...

took his first pole position since Milwaukee in 2008 with a two lap average speed of . 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 contenders

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

and

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is an American professional racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. He currently competes part-time in the IndyC ...

incurred a penalty for exceeding the five engine limit for the year, both of whom fit their sixth

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

engine.

Classification

Starting grid

Race results

;Notes: Points include 1 point for pole position and 2 points for most laps led.

References

{{IndyCar Series race report , Name_of_race = MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships , Year_of_race = 2012 , Previous_race_in_season = 2012 Grand Prix of Baltimore , Next_race_in_season = 2013 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg , Previous_year's_race = 2005 Toyota Indy 400 , Next_year's_race = 2013 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships MAVTV 500

MAVTV Racer Network (formerly known as MAVTV) is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by the motorsports media company Racer, which mainly airs programming focused around motorsports and programming for automotive enthusiasts. C ...

MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships