2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Qualification
Adrian Ungur, Romanian No. 2, was also the second Romanian player to qualify for the ATP Challenger Tour Finals, together with Victor Hănescu. In the 2012 season, he achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 79 and reached 6 tournament finals on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning one title in Sibiu, and finishing as runner-up in Trnava, Brasov, Marrakech, Meknes and Bucaramanga. He also reached the semifinals in Montevideo.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Qualification
Thomaz Bellucci, Brazilian No. 1 and former World No. 21, received a wildcard entry to the ATP Challenger Tour Finals for a second consecutive year and he is the only player to repeat a presence in the tournament. During the 2012 season, he mostly played tournaments from the ATP World Tour. Still, he achieved success in both the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour. In the latter, he won the title in Braunschweig and reached the semifinals at the 2011 ATP Challenger Tour Finals in São Paulo.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Qualification
In the ATP World Tour, he won his third career tile in Gstaad, defeating Janko Tipsarević (No. 8 at the time) in the final, lost the final in Moscow to Andreas Seppi, and reached the semifinals in both Stuttgart and São Paulo. Bellucci has also contributed to the promotion of the Brazilian team to the 2013 Davis Cup World Group with 3 singles rubbers wins.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Qualification
Thiago Alves became the first designated alternate for the tournament, after the preceding alternate players, Gastão Elias and Adrian Ungur, were moved to the main draw before the tournament began. Alves was given the chance to play two round robin matches, due to Thomaz Bellucci's withdrawal with a left shoulder injury after being defeated in his first round robin match. Thiago Alves won 2 titles in the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour, in São Paulo and Guadalajara. His 2012 results also included a runner-up finish in Cali and 3 semifinal finishes in Florianópolis, Campinas and Rio Quente.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Groupings
The draw took place on November 25, 2012. The top seed was placed in the Green Group and the second seed placed in the Yellow Group. Players seeded three and four, five and six, seven and eight, were then drawn in pairs and divided into the two groups.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Groupings
Green Group: Thomaz Bellucci [1], Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo [4], Adrian Ungur [6], Guido Pella [7].


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Groupings
Yellow Group: Paolo Lorenzi [2], Victor Hănescu [3], Aljaž Bedene [5], Gastão Elias [8].


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Player Head-to-Heads
These were the head-to-head records between the qualified players, immediately before the tournament.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, Points and prize money
The total prize money for the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals was US$220,000.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals – Singles
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe was the champion in 2011, but did not qualify for the event in 2012, since he played mostly ATP World Tour tournaments in that season. Guido Pella defeated Adrian Ungur 6–3, 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–4) in the final to win the title.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals – Singles, Draw, Green Group
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In two-players-ties, head-to-head records; 4) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 5) Steering Committee decision.


2012 ATP Challenger Tour Finals – Singles, Draw, Yellow Group
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In two-players-ties, head-to-head records; 4) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 5) Steering Committee decision.


2012 ATP China Challenger International
The 2012 ATP China Challenger International was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the second edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Wuhan, China between 23 and 29 July 2012.


2012 ATP China Challenger International, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 ATP China Challenger International – Doubles
Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana won the title, defeating Adam Feeney and Samuel Groth 6–4, 2–6, [10–8] in the final.


2012 ATP China Challenger International – Singles
Aljaž Bedene won the title, defeating Josselin Ouanna 6–3, 4–6, 6–3 in the final.


2012 ATP China International Tennis Challenge – Anning
The 2012 ATP China International Tennis Challenge – Anning was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the first edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Anning, China between 16 and 22 July 2012.


2012 ATP China International Tennis Challenge – Anning, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 ATP China International Tennis Challenge – Anning – Doubles
Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana won the first edition of the tournament 4–6, 7–6(7–1), [13–11] against Ruan Roelofse and Kittipong Wachiramanowong


2012 ATP China International Tennis Challenge – Anning – Singles
Grega Žemlja won the first edition of the tournament by defeating Aljaž Bedene 1–6, 7–5, 6–3 in the final.


2012 ATP Roller Open
The 2012 ATP Roller Open was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the first edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Pétange, Luxembourg between 10 and 16 September 2012.


2012 ATP Roller Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 ATP Roller Open – Doubles
Christopher Kas and Dick Norman won the title, defeating Jamie Murray and André Sá 2–6, 6–2, [10–8] in the final.


2012 ATP Roller Open – Singles
Tobias Kamke won the title, defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu 7–6(9–7), 6–4 in the final.


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag
The 2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 23rd edition of the ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place at the International Tennis Center in Umag, Croatia, from 9 July until 15 July  2012. Marin Čilić won the singles title.


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag, Finals, Doubles
David Marrero /  Fernando Verdasco defeated  Marcel Granollers /  Marc López 6–3, 7–6(7–4)


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag – Doubles
Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini were the defending champions but Bolelli decided not to participate. Fognini played alongside Daniele Bracciali but lost in the semifinals. David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco won the tournament by beating Marcel Granollers and Marc López 6–3, 7–6(7–4) in the final.


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag – Singles
Alexandr Dolgopolov was the defending champion but lost in the semifinals to Marin Čilić, who won the title by beating Marcel Granollers 6–4, 6–2 in the final.


2012 ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag – Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2012 ATP World Tour
The 2012 ATP World Tour is the global elite professional tennis circuit organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2012 tennis season. The 2012 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World Team Championship, the Davis Cup (organized by the ITF), the ATP World Tour Finals, and the tennis event at the London Summer Olympic Games. Also included in the 2012 calendar is the Hopman Cup, which is organized by the ITF and does not distribute ranking points.


2012 ATP World Tour, Schedule
This is the complete schedule of events on the 2012 calendar, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage.


2012 ATP World Tour, Statistical information
These tables present the number of singles (S), doubles (D), and mixed doubles (X) titles won by each player and each nation during the season, within all the tournament categories of the 2012 ATP World Tour: the Grand Slam tournaments, the tennis event at the London Summer Olympic Games, the ATP World Tour Finals, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, and the ATP World Tour 250 series.


2012 ATP World Tour, Statistical information
The players/nations are sorted by: 1) total number of titles (a doubles title won by two players representing the same nation counts as only one win for the nation); 2) cumulated importance of those titles (one Grand Slam win equalling two Masters 1000 wins, one ATP World Tour Finals win equalling one-and-a-half Masters 1000 win, one Masters 1000 win equalling two 500 events wins, one Olympic win equalling one-and-a-half 500 event win, one 500 event win equalling two 250 events wins); 3) a singles > doubles > mixed doubles hierarchy; 4) alphabetical order (by family names for players).


2012 ATP World Tour, Statistical information, Titles information
The following players won their first main circuit title in singles, doubles, or mixed doubles:


2012 ATP World Tour, Statistical information, Titles information
The following players defended a main circuit title in singles, doubles, or mixed doubles:


2012 ATP World Tour, ATP rankings
These are the ATP Rankings of the top twenty singles players, doubles players, and the top ten doubles teams on the ATP Tour, at the end of the 2011 ATP World Tour, and at the current date of the 2012 season. Players in gold background have qualified for the Year-End Championships. Rafael Nadal withdrew due to a knee injury.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
The Davis Cup World Group and World Group Play-Off matches awarded ATP Ranking points from 2009 to 2015.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
Only live matches earn points; dead rubbers earn no points. If a player does not compete in the singles of one or more rounds he will receive points from the previous round when playing singles at the next tie. This last rule also applies for playing in doubles matches.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
1 A player who wins a singles rubber in the first day of the tie is awarded 5 points, whereas a singles rubber win in tie's last day grants 10 points for a total of 15 available points.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
2 For the first round only, any player who competes in a live rubber, without a win, receives 10 ranking points for participation.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
3 Team bonus awarded to a singles player who wins 7 live matches in a calendar year and his team wins the competition.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
4 Performance bonus awarded to a singles player who wins 8 live matches in a calendar year. In this case, no Team bonus is awarded.


2012 ATP World Tour, Point distribution
5 Team bonus awarded to an unchanged doubles team who wins 4 matches in a calendar year and his team wins the competition.


2012 ATP World Tour, Retirements
Following is a list of notable players (winners of a main tour title, and/or part of the ATP Rankings top 100 (singles) or top 50 (doubles) for at least one week) who announced their retirement from professional tennis, became inactive (after not playing for more than 52 weeks), or were permanently banned from playing, during the 2012 season:


2012 ATP World Tour Finals
The 2012 ATP World Tour Finals (also known as the 2012 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament that was played at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom between 5 and 12 November 2012.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Tournament
The 2012 ATP World Tour Finals took place from 5 to 12 November at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. It was the 43rd edition of the tournament (38th in doubles). The tournament was run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and was part of the 2012 ATP World Tour. The event took place on indoor hard courts. It served as the season-ending championships for players on the ATP Tour. The eight players who qualified for the event were split into two groups of four.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Tournament
During this stage, players competed in a round-robin format (meaning players played against all the other players in their group). The two players with the best results in each group progressed to the semifinals, where the winners of a group faced the runners-up of the other group. This stage, however, was a knock-out stage. The doubles competition used the same format.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Tournament, Format
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals had a round-robin format, with eight players/teams divided into two groups of four. The eight seeds were determined by the ATP Rankings and ATP Doubles Team Rankings on the Monday after the last ATP World Tour tournament of the calendar year. All singles matches were the best of three tie-break sets, including the final. All doubles matches were two sets (no ad) and a Match Tie-break.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Tournament, Draw
The top seeded players/teams were placed in Group A and the second seeded player/team were placed in Group B. Players/teams seeded 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, were then drawn in pairs with the first drawn placed in Group A. Each player/team played the three other players/teams in his group. The winner of each group (best overall record) was placed in separate semi-final brackets, with the top player/team in Group A playing the runner-up in Group B, and vice versa. If two or more players/teams were tied after the round robin matches, the ties were broken by the Tie-Break Procedure.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualification
The top eight players (or teams) with the most countable points accumulated in Grand Slam, ATP World Tour, and Davis Cup tournaments during the year qualify for the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals. Countable points include points earned in 2012, plus points earned at the 2011 Davis Cup final and the late-season 2011 Challengers played after the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals. To qualify, a player who finished in the 2011 year-end top 30 must compete in four Grand Slam tournaments and eight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments during 2012.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualification
They can count their best six results from ATP World Tour 500, ATP World Tour 250 and other events (Challengers, Futures, Davis Cup, Olympics) toward their ranking. To count their best six, players must have fulfilled their commitment to 500 events – 4 total per year (at least 1 after the US Open). Additionally, commitment players will no longer need to enter the 500 events 12 weeks in advance but instead go back the normal 6-week entry deadline.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualification
If eligible to play in one of the Grand Slam or ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, a player must count the points from these tournaments, even if it is 'a zero pointer' because he missed the event. Just as in Formula One and numerous other sports, if a competitor misses a race or an event, he loses his chance to earn points.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualification
Players with direct acceptance who do not play an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament will be suspended from a subsequent ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, which will be the next highest points earned ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event within the next 12 months. If an injured player is on site within the first three days of a tournament to conduct promotional activities over a two-day period, a suspension will not be enforced but a 0-pointer will be counted on a player's ranking.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualification
If a player does not play enough ATP 500 events and does not have an ATP 250 or Challenger appearance with a better result, the Davis Cup is counted in the 500s table (if the player entered or achieved better results). If a player does not play enough ATP 250 or Challenger events, the World Team Championship is counted in the 250s table (if the player entered or achieved better results). If a player could not be present in all required tournament classes (i.e. because of an injury), all uncounted ATP 250 or Challenger results are eligible to be included in his 18 valid tournaments. In teams rankings, Challenger points are excluded.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualification
A player who is out of competition for 30 or more days, due to a verified injury, is not penalized. The 2012 ATP World Tour Finals counts as an additional 19th tournament in the ranking of its eight qualifiers at season's end, while the Davis Cup Final points count towards the next year's race.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
On 7 July, the first three qualifiers were announced during the Wimbledon tournament, they were Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Roger Federer began his season at the Qatar Open as the defending champion but withdrew before his semifinal match. At the Australian Open he lost to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. He then went on to win 16 matches in a row, beginning with the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament defeating Juan Martín del Potro in the final, and then back-to-back titles in Dubai Tennis Championships over Andy Murray and BNP Paribas Open over John Isner. His streak ended in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open losing to Andy Roddick.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
He bounced back at the Mutua Madrid Open, winning the title over Tomáš Berdych. He then lost in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia and French Open to Novak Djokovic. In the grass season, he reached three finals, first at the Gerry Weber Open losing to Tommy Haas . He then won his 17th Slam at the Wimbledon defeating Murray in the final. In the Olympics, he scored his first singles medal, winning the silver, losing in the final to Murray.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
He then won his 6th title of the year at Western & Southern Open over Djokovic, not dropping a set or his serve during the entire tournament. In the final Slam of the year, at the US Open he fell in the quarter-finals for the first time in the tournament to Berdych. He then played the Swiss Indoors Basel as the defending champion but lost to Juan Martín del Potro in the final. Federer has qualified for his 11th Year-End Championship and is the defending champion.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Novak Djokovic began the year by defending his Australian Open title after back-to-back five set wins over Andy Murray in the semifinal and Rafael Nadal in the final in 5 hours and 53 minutes, the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of professional tennis. Djokovic then won his second title of the year at the Sony Ericsson Open without dropping and set and defeating Andy Murray in the final. In the European Clay season, he was able to reach 3 finals, losing each time to Nadal.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
He lost in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, and in his first French Open final. At Wimbledon as the defending champion, he fell in the semifinals to Roger Federer . At the Olympics, the Serbian failed the medal after losing in the Bronze medal match to Juan Martín del Potro. In the US Open Series, he reached three consecutive finals. He first won in the Rogers Cup defeating Richard Gasquet in the final. He then lost to Federer in the final of the Western & Southern Open.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
In the US Open as the defending champion, he lost to Murray in the final after coming back from two sets down. He is the only one to reach at least the semifinals of each Slam of the year. At the Asian swing he made a sweep winning the China Open over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the Shanghai Rolex Masters over Andy Murray, saving 5 match points in the second set. He has qualified for his sixth Year-End Championship.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Rafael Nadal began his season at the Qatar Open losing to Gaël Monfils in the semifinals. He then reached the final of the Australian Open losing to Novak Djokovic. In the European clay season, Nadal started with back-to-back wins without dropping a set, winning the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters over Djokovic and the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell over compatriot David Ferrer. At the Madrid Open, he lost to Fernando Verdasco for the first time, thus ending his 22 match winning streak in clay.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
He then won again back-to-back titles in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia winning and French Open winning in a rain delayed final he defeated Djokovic on both occasions. His French Open win meant he has won the most French Open titles in the Open Era. At Wimbledon, Nadal suffered a shock loss in the second round, the first time he has lost before the second round in a Slam since 2005 Wimbledon; he lost to 100th ranked Lukáš Rosol. Nadal then withdrew from the Olympics as the defending champion from 2008 Olympics, and the US Open Series due to a knee injury. This is Nadal's 8th time to qualify for the event, however he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a left knee injury.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
On 5 September, following his 2012 US Open triumph, Andy Murray was the fourth to qualify.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Andy Murray started the year with the appointment of new coach Ivan Lendl, and opened winning the title at the Brisbane International, defeating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the final. Murray then competed in the Australian Open, where he reached the semifinals before being beaten by Novak Djokovic in a tightly fought match that lasted almost 5 hours. Next, at the Dubai Tennis Championships lost to Roger Federer in the final. He then reached the final of the Miami Masters, which he ultimately lost to Djokovic. At French Open, he was beaten by David Ferrer in the quarter-finals .


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Murray then reached the final of Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer. He then reached the final of the Olympics, where he defeated Federer to win the gold medal for Britain, for the first time since 1908. In the mixed doubles final, Murray and Robson faced Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, but lost in three sets, settling for the silver medal. At the US Open Murray went on to claim his first ever major title, winning the final against Djokovic and becoming the first British man to win a grand slam title since Fred Perry in 1936. As the defending champion he reached the final of Shanghai Rolex Masters losing to Djokovic. He served for the match at 5–4 in the second and had 5 match points, but lost his first match at the event. This is the 5th time Murray has qualified for the ATP Finals.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
On 15 October following the Shanghai Rolex Masters David Ferrer was announced as the fifth qualifier.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
David Ferrer opened his season with a successful defence of his Heineken Open title, with a win over Belgian player Olivier Rochus for his third title at the Auckland tournament. He next entered the Australian Open and managed to reach the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic He then went on to win back-to-back titles at the Copa Claro over Nicolás Almagro, and Abierto Mexicano Telcel over Fernando Verdasco. At the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell he reached his 4th final of the year, losing to Rafael Nadal.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
At the French Open, he reached the semifinals for the first time losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. He then won his 4th title of the year at the UNICEF Open defeating Philipp Petzschner in the final. Ferrer reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, where he was beaten by eventual runner-up Murray. Ferrer then won the Swedish Open defeating compatriot Almagro in the final.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
At the US Open, he reached the semifinals, thus reaching at least the quarter-finals of each slam in the year, only one of four to achieve it in the year, he lost to Novak Djokovic, where the match was suspended after the first set. Ferrer then won his home tournament the Valencia Open 500 defeating Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final. Ferrer won his 7th title of the year, the most of any player at the BNP Paribas Masters defeating qualifier Jerzy Janowicz in the final. This is Ferrer's first Master 1000 title after finishing runner-up 3 times prior. This is the 4th time Ferrer has qualified for the finals in London.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
On 22 October, after winning the If Stockholm Open, Tomáš Berdych was announced as the sixth qualifier.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Tomáš Berdych began the year by winning the Hopman Cup with Petra Kvitová over France's Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet. At the Australian Open, he reached the quarter-finals losing to Rafael Nadal. The following week, he won his first title of the year at the Open Sud de France defeating Gaël Monfils. He reached his first Masters 1000 final in 2 years at the Mutua Madrid Open but lost to Roger Federer. At the French Open he reached the fourth round losing to Juan Martín del Potro.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
He was then upset by Ernests Gulbis in three tie-break sets at the first round of the Wimbledon. He then reached his second final of the year at the Winston-Salem Open but lost to John Isner. At the US Open he upset world no. 1 Federer in the quarter-finals, but lost to Andy Murray in the semifinals with very windy conditions. He won his second title of the year at the If Stockholm Open defeating Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. This is the third consecutive time that Berdych has qualified.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
On 25 October, following the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal, Juan Martín del Potro booked a spot into the event.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Juan Martín del Potro reached the quarter-finals of the first slam of the year in the Australian Open losing to Roger Federer. He then reached his first final of the year at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament losing to Federer once again. However, he bounced back by winning his first title of the year at the Open 13 defeating Michaël Llodra in the final. At the Estoril Open, successfully defended his title by defeating Richard Gasquet .


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
At the French Open he reached the quarter-finals but fell to Federer for the fifth time in the year despite leading two sets to love he lost. At Wimbledon he was handily defeated by David Ferrer in the fourth round. He bounced back at the Olympics winning the Bronze Medal match over Novak Djokovic after losing to Federer in the semifinals. At the US Open he reached his third slam quarter-finals of the year but lost once again this time to Djokovic. He won his third title of the year at the Erste Bank Open defeating qualifier Grega Žemlja in the final. At the Swiss Indoors Basel, Del Potro got his fourth championship of the year after beating Roger Federer. This is the third time del Potro has qualified for the event.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
On 1 November, after reaching the quarter-final of the Paris Masters, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarević booked the final two spots of the event.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga began the year well by winning the Qatar Open in an all-French final over Gaël Monfils. At the Australian Open he was upset in the fourth round by Kei Nishikori. At the French Open he lost in the quarter-finals to Novak Djokovic, despite having four match points, two at 5–4 and two at 6–5 in the fourth set. At Wimbledon he reached the semifinals losing to Andy Murray. At the US Open, Tsonga failed to reach the third round of a slam for the first time since 2007, losing to Martin Kližan in the second round.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
He then bounced back by winning his second title of the year at the Moselle Open over Andreas Seppi. He then reached the final of the China Open losing to Novak Djokovic. He reached his fourth final of the year at the If Stockholm Open losing to Tomáš Berdych. This is the third time that Tsonga has qualified for the event.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
Janko Tipsarević began the year by reaching the final of the Aircel Chennai Open but ended up losing to Milos Raonic in three tie-break sets . At the Australian Open he reached the third round but lost to Richard Gasquet. At the French Open he reached the fourth round and faced Nicolás Almagro but lost in straight sets. At the Wimbledon he was upset in the third round by Mikhail Youzhny losing.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Singles
The Serb then bounced back by reaching back-to-back finals at the MercedesCup defeating Juan Mónaco in the final to claim his first title of the year and at the Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad losing to Thomaz Bellucci. At the US Open he reached his second straight quarter-finals at the event but once again lost this time to David Ferrer, despite leading the final set 4–1. This is the first time Tipsarević has qualified for the event after serving as an alternate the previous year.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
The first team that qualified was the team of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor on 9 August.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Max Mirnyi & Daniel Nestor began the year by winning the Brisbane International over the team of Melzer/Petzschner. They then successfully defended their title at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships facing the team of Dodig/Melo in the final. At the Sony Ericsson Open they reached their third final of the year only to come up short and lose to the team of Paes/Štěpánek. They then reached their second Masters 1000 final at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters losing to the team of Bryan/Bryan.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
They then successfully defended their title at the French Open, their second slam as a team over the team of Bryan/Bryan. They then claimed their second consecutive title at the Aegon Championships, once again over the American team of Bryan/Bryan. Mirnyi also claimed the Mixed Doubles gold medal at the Olympics pairing with Victoria Azarenka defeating the British team of Murray/Robson. Nestor on the other hand claimed the title at the Swiss Indoors Basel pairing with Nenad Zimonjić defeating Huey/Inglot.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
After winning the Rogers Cup the team of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan qualified for the event on 12 August.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan started the year by winning the Apia International Sydney defeating Ebden/Nieminen in the final. At the Australian Open, as the 3-time defending champion they reached their fourth consecutive final but lost to the team Paes/Štěpánek . They won their 20th Masters title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters by defeating Mirnyi/Nestor. They then reached 3 consecutive finals, the first is in a winning effort at the Open de Nice Côte d'Azur over Marach/Polášek. The second final came in the French Open, where they face Mirnyi/Nestor but ended up in the losing side.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
They then lost again to Mirnyi/Nestor at the final of the Aegon Championships. At the Summer Olympics, the brothers claimed their first gold medal defeating the French team of Llodra/Tsonga. They then backed it up by winning the Rogers Cup over the Spanish duo of Granollers/López. They then won their 12th slam as a team at the US Open defeating the team of Paes/Štěpánek. This is the most slams won by any team. They then won their 7th title of the year at the China Open over Berlocq/Istomin. Mike Bryan also competed with Lisa Raymond to take the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon over Vesnina/Paes and the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics over the German pairing of Lisicki/Kas.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
On 19 August, the team of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecău qualified for the event after winning the Western & Southern Open.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Robert Lindstedt & Horia Tecău reached their first final of the year at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament losing to the team of Llodra/Zimonjić in the final. They won their first title of the year at the BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy over the team of Chardy/Kubot. They reached their first Masters 1000 final of the year at the Mutua Madrid Open but lost to Fyrstenberg/Matkowski. They then won their second title at the UNICEF Open over the team of Cabal/Tursunov.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
For the third straight year, they were able to reach the final of the Wimbledon but for the third straight year finished as runner-up, this time losing to the wild carded team of Marray/Nielsen. They bounced back by winning Lindstedt's home tournament at the SkiStar Swedish Open for the third straight time defeating the pairing Peya/Soares. They won their biggest title of the year at the Western & Southern Open a Masters 1000 event defeating the Indian pairing of Bhupathi/Bopanna in the final. Lindstedt also teamed up with Nenad Zimonjić at the If Stockholm Open and reached the final just to lose to Melo/Soares. Tecau also paired up with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win the mixed doubles at the Australian Open over the team of Vesnina/Paes.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
On 6 October, after reaching the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, the team of India's Leander Paes and Radek Štěpánek were announced as the fourth qualifiers.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Leander Paes & Radek Štěpánek began the year by winning the first slam of the year at the Australian Open defeating the team of Bryan/Bryan, the defending champion. They then claimed their second title at the Sony Ericsson Open defeating the pairing of Mirnyi/Nestor in the final. They then reached their second slam final of the year at the US Open, once again against the team of Bryan/Bryan in the final but this time they lost.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
The Indian-Czech reached back-to-back finals at the China Open losing to the team of Peya/Soares and the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters defeating the Indian pairing of Bhupathi/Bopanna. Paes also won another title pairing with Janko Tipsarević defeating the Israel duo of Erlich/Ram at the Aircel Chennai Open. Paes also reached the final of two Mixed Doubles slam with Elena Vesnina but end up losing in both, at the Australian Open to Mattek-Sands/Tecău and at Wimbledon to Raymond/Bryan.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
On 15 October, after securing their position in the top 20, Wimbledon champions Britain's Jonathan Marray and Denmark's Frederik Nielsen qualified for the event.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Jonathan Marray & Frederik Nielsen made a breakthrough winning their only title at Wimbledon defeating three-time Wimbledon finalists Lindstedt/Tecău. This win marked the first time that a British player had won a doubles slam in 76 years and Nielsen was the first Dane to win a Wimbledon Championship title. It was also the first time since 1998 that a doubles final went to 5 sets. Nielsen also reached the final of Moselle Open teaming up with Johan Brunström losing Mahut/Roger-Vasselin.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
On 22 October, the Spanish team of Marcel Granollers and Marc López became the sixth qualifiers.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Marcel Granollers & Marc López reached their first final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in an all-Spanish final against Marrero/Verdasco but lost. They again finished runners-up at the Barcelona Open BancSabadell losing to the Polish team of Fyrstenberg/Matkowski. They won their first title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia defeating the team of Kubot/Tipsarević. They then reached back-to-back finals at the ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag losing to the Spanish pairing of Marrero/Verdasco and the final of the Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad defeating the Colombian team of Farah/Giraldo. They then reached their first hard court final at the Rogers Cup facing Bryan/Bryan, but lost. Lopez also paired with Rafael Nadal to claim the BNP Paribas Open over the American pairing of Isner/Querrey.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
On 1 November, after reaching the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Masters, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer claimed one of the two remaining spots.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi & Jean-Julien Rojer claimed their first title at the Estoril Open defeating the Austrian-Spanish team of Knowle/Marrero. They won their second title in the grass courts of Gerry Weber Open defeating Huey/Lipsky in the final. They reached their biggest final of the year at the BNP Paribas Masters losing to the Indian duo of Bhupathi/Bopanna.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
On 2 November, after defeating the team of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, the Indian team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna booked the final spot.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Qualified players, Doubles
Mahesh Bhupathi & Rohan Bopanna claimed their first title of the year at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships defeating the Polish team of Fyrstenberg/Matkowski. They reached their second final of the year at the Western & Southern Open but lost to Lindstedt/Tecău. At the Shanghai Rolex Masters they faced the team of Paes/Štěpánek in the final but lost. They then won their biggest title of the year at the BNP Paribas Masters defeating the pairing of Qureshi/Rojer. Bhupathi also teamed up with Sania Mirza to win the French Open Mixed doubles title over the team Jans-Ignacik/González.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals, Champions, Doubles
Marcel Granollers /  Marc López def. Mahesh Bhupathi /  Rohan Bopanna, 7–5, 3–6, [10–3]


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Doubles
Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the round-robin stage. Marcel Granollers and Marc López won the title, defeating Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the final.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Doubles, Draw, Group A
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In two-players-ties, head-to-head records; 4) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 5) Steering Committee decision.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Doubles, Draw, Group B
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In two-players-ties, head-to-head records; 4) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 5) Steering Committee decision.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Singles
Novak Djokovic defeated the two-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final, 7–6(8–6), 7–5 to win the Singles tennis title at the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Singles
Janko Tipsarević made his debut as a direct qualifier, after playing two matches as an alternate in 2011.


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Singles, Draw, Group A
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In two-players-ties, head-to-head records; 4) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won initially to sort out a superior/inferior player, then head-to-head records; 5) ATP rankings


2012 ATP World Tour Finals – Singles, Draw, Group B
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In two-players-ties, head-to-head records; 4) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won initially to sort out a superior/inferior player, then head-to-head records; 5) ATP rankings


2012 ATP World Tour Masters 1000
The twenty-third edition of the ATP Masters Series. The champion of each Masters event is awarded a 1,000 rankings points.


2012 Aalesunds FK season
The 2013 season is Aalesunds's 6th consecutive year in Tippeligaen, it was Kjetil Rekdal's fourth full season as the club's manager. Aalesunds competed in the Tippeligaen, finishing 11th  and the 2012 Norwegian Football Cup, where they were knocked out at the Fourth Round stage by Sandefjord. They also competed in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League qualifying stages, defeating Tirana of Albania in the Second Round and then losing to APOEL of Cyprus in the Third Round.


2012 Aalesunds FK season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Aalesunds FK season, Transfers, Winter
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Aalesunds FK season, Transfers, Winter
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Aalesunds FK season, Transfers, Summer
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Aalesunds FK season, Transfers, Summer
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Aaron's 499
The 2012 Aaron's 499 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on May 6, 2012 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Contested over 194 laps (with a green-white-checkered finish), it was the tenth race of the 2012 season. Brad Keselowski of Penske Racing took his second win of the season, while Kyle Busch finished second and Matt Kenseth finished third.


2012 Aaron's 499
There were five cautions and thirty-five lead changes among nineteen different drivers throughout the course of the race. The result moved Keselowski into the twelfth position in the Drivers' Championship. He remained seventy-nine points behind of first place driver Greg Biffle and thirteen ahead of thirteen placed Ryan Newman. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, five points ahead of Toyota and ten ahead of Ford, with twenty-six races remaining in the season.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Background
The track, Talladega Superspeedway, is one of six  superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway. The standard track at the speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.66 miles (4.28 km) long. The track's turns are banked at thirty-three degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 16.5 degrees. The back stretch has a two-degree banking. Talladega Superspeedway can seat up to 143,231 people.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Background
Before the race, Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship with 338 points, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. stood in second with 333. Denny Hamlin was third in the Drivers' Championship with 329 points, one ahead of Matt Kenseth and thirteen ahead of Martin Truex, Jr. in fourth and fifth. Jimmie Johnson with 314 was one ahead of Kevin Harvick, as Tony Stewart with 307 points, was twenty points ahead of Carl Edwards, and twenty-nine in front of Ryan Newman. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 60 points, eight ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 49 points, was twelve points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Johnson was the race's defending race winner after winning it in 2011.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held before the race on Friday. The first session was 45 minutes long, while the second lasted 60 minutes. Aric Almirola was quickest with a time of 48.079 seconds in the first session, two-tenths of a second faster than Michael Waltrip. Kenseth was third, followed by Jeff Gordon, Harvick, and Brad Keselowski. Casey Mears was seventh, still within half of a second of Almirola's time. In the second practice session, Almirola remained quickest with a time of 48.677. Kenseth followed Almirola in the second position with a time of 48.687 seconds, 0.010 seconds slower. Biffle was third quickest, ahead of Hamlin, Regan Smith, and David Gilliland. Joey Logano followed in the seventh position with a time of 49.078 seconds.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Practice and qualifying
Forty-four cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three would race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Gordon clinched the seventy-first pole position of his career with a time of 49.973 seconds, the only qualifying lap under 50 seconds. Gordon qualified differently from most of the other drivers, hoping to keep his engine cool through the qualifying laps. A. J. Allmendinger qualified 0.135 seconds behind and joined Gordon on the front row of the grid. Marcos Ambrose took third place, ahead of Almirola and Kahne in the fourth and fifth positions. Championship leader, Biffle qualified sixth, while Edwards followed in seventh. Stewart, Waltrip and Kenseth completed the first ten positions. J. J. Yeley failed to qualify for the race after positing a time of 51.402 seconds.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Practice and qualifying
Following the qualifying session, Gordon stated, "That's quite an accomplishment. I'm just so proud of this DuPont Chevy team. We needed something to boost our morale and something positive because we've had a rough year so far. This is a surprise. We did not expect to be sitting here now talking to you about a pole, and I think it's ironice that we've got the DuPont paint scheme, which is celebrating 20 years and then we win a pole for the 20th straight year."


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
The race, the tenth in the season, started 2:05 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on Fox. The conditions on the grid were wet before the race and overcast skies are expected. Rain showers before the scheduled start time of 1 p.m. EDT delayed the event by 45 minutes to 2:05 p.m. EDT.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
At the drop of the green flag on lap 1, polesitter Jeff Gordon maintained his lead, but was soon passed on the backstretch by the Richard Petty Motorsports tandem of Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola. By the time the field returned to the finish line, Matt Kenseth had shoved Tony Stewart to the lead. Stewart led until lap 16, when the first caution of the day waved after Regan Smith's engine blew. Most of the drivers pitted under the caution, and A. J. Allmendinger was penalized for speeding on pit road.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
Kenseth led the field at the restart on lap 20. On lap 25, Denny Hamlin pushed Michael Waltrip to the lead. Waltrip continued to lead until lap 46 when he was passed by Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. During this time, Newman retired to the garage on lap 44 on a mechanical problem. Waltrip dropped to fourth on lap 48 as he was passed by Kurt Busch.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
On lap 52, Matt Kenseth reclaimed the lead, though he reported a vibration in his car five laps later. The field cycled through green flag pit stops from lap 58 to lap 62. On lap 64, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. claimed the lead. One lap later, Jimmie Johnson's car returned to the garage for a broken oil pump belt. On lap 67, Kenseth picked up Earnhardt in turn 4.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
The two cars gained some headway until lap 72, where a scramble for the lead sent Earnhardt back from first place to 19th place in the course of three laps, while Jeff Gordon dropped back from third to tenth place, and Kenseth claimed the lead. On lap 81, Michael Waltrip got alongside Kenseth and dueled him for several laps. On lap 87, Waltrip gave Kasey Kahne a shove to the lead. Kahne retained the lead until lap 94 when Juan Pablo Montoya pulled up alongside him. The two cars maintained the lead until another round of green flag pit stops from lap 99 to 106. Paul Menard momentarily held the lead during the cycle before he pitted.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
On lap 106, Greg Biffle took the lead. On lap 111, Kenseth pushed Jeff Burton to the lead alongside Biffle. On lap 120, Kurt Busch claimed the lead. He maintained this lead for two laps, when Biffle pushed Kenseth around Busch. Kenseth retained the lead until lap 136, where Kurt Busch momentarily maintained the lead on the first two turns but was repassed by Kenseth on the back straightaway. At lap 141, Busch and Harvick ran out of fuel.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
As they coasted down the apron on the back straightaway, the second caution flag was waved for a nine car wreck in turns 3 and 4. It started when Aric Almirola, trying to get back above the yellow line, knocked Dave Blaney into the wall. Several more cars piled in: Landon Cassill, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex, Jr., Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Terry Labonte. Kenseth and Marcos Ambrose entered the pits after the caution flag waved and the pit road closed. As a result, they and several other drivers, including Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte - were moved to the back of the field when the race restarted on lap 150. Paul Menard assumed the lead


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
Two laps later, Brad Keselowski claimed the lead. On lap 159, Denny Hamlin passed Keselowski for the lead. With help from Kenseth, Casey Mears passed Hamlin three laps later, but was repassed by Hamlin a lap later. On lap 166, Keselowski returned Kenseth to the lead. On lap 175, the third caution was waved after Casey Mears cut a tire and spun in turn 2, also brushing and spinning out Trevor Bayne as he came down the banking. Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray pitted on lap 176. Kenseth led at the restart on lap 179.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
On lap 181, the fourth caution waved as Kurt Busch spun out in the tri-oval off of Brad Keselowski's bumper. In a notorious move, Busch drove wrong way back to the pits instead of going around the circuit, but was still scored on the lead lap. On the lap 184 restart, Kenseth continued to maintain the lead. Barely had the cars made it down the straightaway when another wreck happened as drivers shuffled around. The drivers involved in the wreck were Menard, Hamlin, Biffle, Waltrip, Harvick, Burton, Robert Richardson, Jr., Stewart, and Logano.


2012 Aaron's 499, Report, Race
While driving back to pit road, the left rear tire on Hamlin's car disintegrated, shredding the fender and a panel onto the track. At the green flag on lap 193, Biffle pushed Kenseth clear to the lead. However, Biffle fell back on the backstretch, allowing Keselowski to take the lead with help from Kyle Busch. Keselowski held off Busch, Kenseth and Biffle to win his second Talladega race.


2012 Aberdeen City Council election
The 2012 Aberdeen City Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Aberdeen City Council. The election used the 13 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system a form of proportional representation, with 43 Councillors elected.


2012 Aberdeen City Council election
Local political activist Renee Slater caused great controversy when she registered a mannequin doll as 'Helena Torry' in the Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross ward. This was withdrawn soon after being spotted and a report has been issued to Grampian Police.


2012 Aberdeen City Council election
The election saw the Scottish Liberal Democrats decimated as they lost two-thirds of their Councillors. The Scottish National Party secured 3 gains copper-fastening their by-election gains during the 2007–2012 term. However, it was Labour who proved to be the biggest winners with 7 gains and 17 total seats as they secured first place. Independents gained 2 seats while the Tories lost 2 seats.


2012 Aberdeen City Council election
On 9 May an agreement was reached to form a coalition. The coalition was formed between the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and three Independent councillors. Labour had 17 seats, the Tories contributed three and there were three independent members.


2012 Aberdeen City Council election, Election results
Note: The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.


2012 Aberdeenshire Council election
Elections to Aberdeenshire Council were held on 3 May 2012, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election used the 19 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system a form of proportional representation, with 68 Councillors being elected.


2012 Aberdeenshire Council election
The 2007 election saw the Scottish Liberal Democrats form a coalition on the Council with the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.


2012 Aberdeenshire Council election
The 2012 election saw the SNP gain an additional 6 seats and become the largest party on the Council, supplanting the Lib Dems. The Tories retained their 14 seats on the Council and as a result became the second largest party. The Lib Dems lost half their Councillors falling from 24 to 12 seats. Independents also increased their overall numbers to 11 seats while Labour and the Scottish Green Party won seats in Aberdeenshire for the first time.


2012 Aberdeenshire Council election
Following the election a Tory-Lib Dem-Independent administration was formed and in 2013 they were joined by the 2 Labour members. On 8 June 2015, a new administration was formed by the SNP and a 'Progressive Alliance' between Scottish Labour and 2 Progressive Independent councilors, who had been members of the previous administration.


2012 Aberdeenshire Council election, Results
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.


2012 Aberto Santa Catarina De Tenis
The 2012 Aberto Santa Catarina De Tenis was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the seventh edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Blumenau, Brazil between 9 and 15 April 2012.


2012 Aberto Santa Catarina De Tenis, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Aberto Santa Catarina De Tenis – Doubles
Franco Ferreiro and André Sá were the defending champions but decided not to participate. Marin Draganja and Dino Marcan won the title, defeating Blaž Kavčič and Antonio Veić 6–2, 6–0 in the final.


2012 Aberto Santa Catarina De Tenis – Singles
José Acasuso was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Antonio Veić won the title when his opponent Paul Capdeville retired during the final match. Veić was leading 3–6, 6–4, 5–2.


2012 Aberto de Florianópolis
The 2012 Aberto de Florianópolis was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the fifth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Florianópolis, Brazil between February 27 and March 4, 2012.


2012 Aberto de Florianópolis, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Aberto de Florianópolis, Champions, Doubles
Blaž Kavčič /  Antonio Veić def. Javier Martí /  Leonardo Tavares, 6–3, 6–3


2012 Aberto de Florianópolis – Doubles
Tomasz Bednarek and Mateusz Kowalczyk were the defending champions but decided not to participate. Blaž Kavčič and Antonio Veić won the title after defeating Javier Martí and Leonardo Tavares 6–3, 6–3 in the final.


2012 Aberto de Florianópolis – Singles
Guillaume Rufin was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Simone Bolelli won the title, defeating Blaž Kavčič 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Aberto de São Paulo
The 2012 Aberto de São Paulo was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the twelfth edition of the tournament which is part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in São Paulo, Brazil between 2 and 8 January 2011.


2012 Aberto de São Paulo, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Aberto de São Paulo, Champions, Doubles
Fernando Romboli /  Júlio Silva def. Jozef Kovalík /  José Pereira, 7–5, 6–2


2012 Aberto de São Paulo – Doubles
Franco Ferreiro and André Sá were the defending champions but Sá decided not to participate. Ferreiro plays alongside Marcelo Demoliner but lost in the first round to Jozef Kovalík and José Pereira. Kovalík and Pereira went on to reach the final but lost to Fernando Romboli and Júlio Silva 5–7, 2–6.


2012 Aberto de São Paulo – Singles
Ricardo Mello was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Thiago Alves won the title after defeating Gastão Elias 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–1) in the final.


2012 Aberto de Tênis do Rio Grande do Sul
The 2012 Aberto de Tênis do Rio Grande do Sul was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the first edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil between 22 and 28 October 2012.


2012 Aberto de Tênis do Rio Grande do Sul, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Aberto de Tênis do Rio Grande do Sul – Doubles
Marcelo Demoliner and João Souza won the final 6–3, 3–6, [10–7] against Simon Greul and Alessandro Motti.


2012 Aberto de Tênis do Rio Grande do Sul – Singles
Simon Greul defeated Gastão Elias 2–6, 7–6(7–5), 7–5 in the final to win the title.


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel
The 2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 19th edition of the men's tournament (12th for the women), which was part of the 2012 ATP World Tour and the 2012 WTA Tour. It took place in Acapulco, Mexico between 27 February and 3 March 2012. David Ferrer and Sara Errani won the singles titles.


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, ATP singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, ATP doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, WTA doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Finals, Men's doubles
David Marrero /  Fernando Verdasco defeated Marcel Granollers /  Marc López 6-3, 6-4


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Finals, Women's doubles
Sara Errani /  Roberta Vinci defeated  Lourdes Domínguez Lino /  Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-1


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel – Men's Doubles
Victor Hănescu and Horia Tecău were the defending champions but decided not to participate. David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco won the title by defeating Marcel Granollers and Marc López 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel – Men's Singles
David Ferrer is the defending champion. He successfully defended his title by defeating 8th seed Fernando Verdasco, 6–1, 6–2 in the final.


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel – Women's Doubles
Mariya Koryttseva and Raluca Olaru were the defending champions but Olaru decided not to participate. Koryttseva played alongside Darija Jurak but lost in the quarterfinals to Gisela Dulko and Paola Suárez. Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci defeated Lourdes Domínguez Lino and Arantxa Parra Santonja 6–2, 6–1 in the final to win the title.


2012 Abierto Mexicano Telcel – Women's Singles
Gisela Dulko was the defending champion, but withdrew due to gastrointestinal illness. Sara Errani won the title, defeating Flavia Pennetta 5–7, 7–6(7–2), 6–0 in the final.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team
The 2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team represented Abilene Christian University in the 2012 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The Wildcats were led by first year head coach Ken Collums and played their home games at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene, Texas.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team
During the 2012 season, Abilene Christian ended in fifth place in the LSC with 4–4 record and 7–4 overall with a win over No. 13 West Alabama. Abilene Christian became just third program to have three consecutive 12,000-yard passers after Hawaii and Houston. The Wildcats had also the best punt return in college football averaging 25.2 yards per return.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Previous season
The Wildcats finished the 2011 NCAA Division II football season with an 8–3 overall record, and a 7–1 record in Lone Star play to second place. They reached the NCAA Division II playoff where they were defeated by Washburn in the first round. After the season, Christ Thomsen resign Abilene Christian head football coach for an assistant coach position at Arizona State.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Recruiting
Abilene Christian signed 13 new players on national signing day


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Pre-season
Abeline Christian were ranked no. 10 in the American Football Coaches' Association pre-season poll and no. 13 by Lindy's magazine. The ACU Wildcats were picked to finish 2nd in the conference behind Midwest State.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Pre-season
Mitchell Gale was not only awarded Lone Star Conference pre-season player of the year but also chosen pre-season NCAA DII offensive player of the year by Lindy's. Mitchell Gale and Morgan Lineberry (placekicker) were selected first team All-American and Taylor Gabriel (WR) made the third-team.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, McMurry
In the opener ACU played the NCAA DII newcomer and cross town rival, McMurry Warhawks. It was the first game as head coach for Ken Collums who enter the season with the No.10 ranked team and one of the bestoffense in the nation while McMurry had one of the best offenses in DIII last year. .


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, McMurry
It took the Wildcats while to break the ice but middle of the second quarter ACU final reach the end zone and they didn't look back after that. IT turned out to be the most point score for ACU in the opening game sincelast time the team met in 1971. But it wasn't just the offense that showed up. Nick Richardson (DE) tied the school record with 6 sacks and it was the ACU first shutout since 2006. ACU is now 44-43-4 in first game of the season.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, McMurry
Mitchell Gale was 19 out of 28 with 290 yards and one touchdown. Marcel Threat ran for 88 yards in 14 carries averaging 6.3 yards per carries and two touchdowns. Taylor Gabriel did catch 7 balls for 108 yards and one touchdown.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Both team enter the game ranked, ACU 9th and Texas A&M-Kingsville 24th, and with 1–0 record. ACU had won 8 straight against Javelinas. The Wildcats were without starting outside linebacker Chris Summers who suffered a right knee injury against McMurry and was out for the season.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Mitchell Gale arguably had his worst game in his college career with only 13 completed passes out of 31 for only 137 yards and his 23-game streak with a least one touchdown throw was snapped. A touchdown and three field goals was enough for Texas A&M-Kingsville to come away from Shotwell Stadium with a victory. This was the first time the Wildcats lost a home game in the regular season since 2009.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Darr. Cantu-Harkless rann for 70 yards in only 4 carries while catching 4 passes for 36 yards.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Tarleton State
ACU had won six of the last eight meetings between the teams. The Wildcats enter the game 0–1 in the conference and 1-1 overall while Tarleton was still unbeaten after a win on opening day against Midwest State.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Tarleton State
Despite being down 10 at half, the Wildcats clawed themselves back into the game and were able to take the lead late in the third quarter thanks to some great puntreturns and kept it for the rest of the game. ACU became only fourth team from the state of Texas to have won both in the Cowboys Stadium and the Cotton bowl. ACU and Gale have the most passing yards of any college teams and players in the Cowboys Stadium and Taylor Gabriel is the leading college wide receiver in the stadium in points (24).


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Tarleton State
Mitchell Gale was 27 out of 42 for 279 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mitchell Gale rushed for 38 yards in 11 carries and Darian Hogg did catch 8 balls for 67 yards.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Angelo State
The first true road trip waited No.19 ACU (2-1) when they visited Angelo State in San Angelo, Texas. ACU had won 9 out 10 last meetings against the Rams.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Game summaries, Angelo State
Abilene Christian was held to only 9 rushing yards the whole game while giving up 7 sacks in the 23–28 loss to Angelo State.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Weekly awards
Week 1 defensive player of the week: Nick Richardson. He had six sacks against McMurry.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Weekly awards
Week 1 honorably mention: Mitchell Gale completed 68 percent of his passes for 290 yards.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Weekly awards
Week 3 offensive player of the week: Taylor Gabriel (WR) who had 5 catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns.


2012 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team, Weekly awards
Week 3 honorably mention: L.B. Suggs tipped the ball that ended in the first half preventing Tarleton State being more than 10 points up at the half. He had also a game high 11 tackles.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election
The elections for the 5th convocation of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia were held in two rounds on 10 and 24 March 2012.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Background
This was the first parliamentary election since the August 2008 war and the subsequent diplomatic recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, Nicaragua, Nauru, Venezuela, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Background
On 22 February, President Alexander Ankvab survived an assassination attempt as his motorcade came under attack on the road from Gudauta to Sukhumi. Though he survived, two bodyguards were killed. Ankvab blamed "mafia, criminal groups" and the "political circles" around them for the attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it was an attempt to destabilise the country's political situation prior to the election.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Parties
Candidates could be nominated by initiative groups and by officially registered political parties (in at most a third of all constituencies, that is 11).


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Parties, Candidates
In total, 156 candidates were nominated. 35 candidates were nominated by a political party and 126 by an initiative group (with some overlap). Of the candidates nominated by a political party, 11 were nominated by United Abkhazia, 11 by the Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia, 7 by the Communist Party and 6 by the Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia. The Central Electoral Commission approved the registration of 151 candidates. Of these, 3 withdrew their candidacy before election day. Of the remaining 148 candidates, 125 were ethnically Abkhaz, nine Armenian, eight Russian, two Greek, two Georgian, one Ossetian and one Kabardin. 16 were female.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Campaign
On 6 March, the Russian Community of the Republic of Abkhazia called upon voters in constituencies 7, 11 and 23 to vote for the Russian candidates Natalya Kayun, Andrei Kulikov and Viktor Vasilev, the first two of which had previously been nominated by United Abkhazia.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Monitors
There were 46-100 international observers from nine countries. According to the CEC, the monitors would be from Russia (from governmental and non-governmental organisations), the Commonwealth of Independent States, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh. Other states whose monitors were invited but had not confirmed attendance are: Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Tuvalu. Georgia steadfastly refused to observe the election on the premise that they claim Abkhazia is under "de facto Russian occupation" and that Georgian refugees who fled Abkhazia (by some accounts up to 50% of the population) are ineligible to vote.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, First round
There were 174 pollings stations. First round turnout was 44.5%. Only 13 constituencies achieved a majority to choose an MP; the other 22 constituencies would face a run-off.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Second round
Second round turnout was 46.21% in 20 constituencies. Of the 40 candidates for the 20 seats in the second round three of nine incumbents held on to their seats. Amongst the 20 members were three MPs from People’s Unity Forum of Abkhazia, two from United Abkhazia the 15 from civic initiative groups. The result will be finalised when approved by a court. Amongst minority representatives, Vagharshak Kosyan and Robert Yalyan were joined by journalist Levon Galustyan to have a total of three Armenian MPs, according to Khachik Minosyan, the Chairman of the Union of Abkhazia Armenians. Galustyan said the election was flawless and praised his fellow Armenian challenger from district 20.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 1
The first round of the election in constituency no. 1 was declared invalid because the turnout had failed to surpass the threshold of 25%. On election day, the Constituency Election Commission originally declared that turnout had been 25.01%. However, after a complaint by two candidates that a mistake had been made in the calculation of the turnout, the Central Election Commission ordered the Constituency Election Commission to recheck the protocols. The corrected turnout was found to be 24.9%, invalidating the election.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 1
On 19 March the Central Election Commission announced that the rerun would be held on 6 May. Four out of seven of the original candidates were nominated again: Daur Achugba, Roland Gamgia, Yekaterina Glazkova and Talikh Khvatish. They were joined by one new candidate, businessman Beslan Eshba. All were successfully registered. Eshba won the rerun with 1932 out of 3413 votes (56.61%), against 782 for Gamgia, 520 for Khvatysh, 47 for Achugba and 43 for Glazkova. Turnout was significantly higher than during the original election, at 44.94%.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 21
On 29 March, the Supreme Court of Abkhazia invalidated the election in constituency no. 21 and ordered a rerun. The original count had given Aida Ashuba a slim first round majority of 401 votes out of 795 (50.44%), but after a complaint by the campaign team of runner up Valeri Kvarchia, the election commission of precinct 1 held a recount. In the recount, 46 more ballots were found to be invalid, causing Ashuba's vote share to fall below 50% and making a second round run-off between Ashuba and Kvarchia necessary.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 21
Ashuba then issued a complaint with the Central Election Commission as his observers had not been present during the recount. The Central Election Commission agreed with the complaint and requested the precinct and constituency election commissions to uphold the original count. When the local election commission refused to comply, the Central Election Commission brought the matter to the Supreme Court.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 21
During the court proceedings it was established that contrary to election law, the ballot bag had not been sealed, and that during the recount, supporters of Kvarchia as well as Security Council and Interior Ministry officials had been present. The representative of the office of the Procecutor General argued that this constituted a breach of election law, that the irregularities in the transport and storage of election ballots meant that determining the correct election result was now impossible, and that both voting protocols should be declared invalid.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 21
The repeat election was set for 20 May, with the nomination period running from 31 March to 20 April and the registration period from 20 April to 10 May. Both Aida Ashuba and Valeri Kvarchia were nominated again by initiative groups. They were joined by Givi Adleiba, who had not originally participated. All three candidates were successfully registered. The rerun saw a much higher turnout than the original election of 1271 from a total of 1770 registered voters (71.8%).


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Rerun in constituency no. 21
No candidate managed to score a first round victory in the repeat election as Kvarchia received 573 votes, Ashuba 502 and Adleiba 159 (37 votes being invalid). In the second round on 4 June, Kvarchia defeated Ashuba with 679 votes against 623, out of a total of 1334 — there had been 1779 registered voters.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Overview
The following table presents an overview of all the candidates, the votes they received in the first round, the second round run-off winners and the reruns.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Reactions
The head of the Central Election Commission, Batal Tabagua, said that since voter turnout exceeded the 25% threshold the election was declared valid. He also added the election was "calm and normal." The CEC spokesman added that "there weren’t observed any violations that could affect the people’s free will."


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Reactions
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to claims of the election being "illegitimate" by NATO, the U.S. Department of State and its embassy in Georgia, the EU delegation to Georgia, PACE co-reporters on Georgia and the Foreign Ministries of Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Azerbaijan as them having "not see[n] fit to support their conclusions by any legal or factual evidence. Such conclusions could have been made only from direct observation of preparation and conduct of voting in the elections to the People's Assembly of the Republic of Abkhazia.


2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election, Results, Reactions
However, none of the above-mentioned countries and organisations sent their observers here, though the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia would have definitely provided them everything necessary for quality monitoring of the voting process." It also added that all the observers, including from the UN-member states of Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Tuvalu, as well as the European parliament and international NGOs confirmed the election was in line with international democratic standards and that "people of Abkhazia recognised the legitimacy of voting procedures in their state long ago."


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally the 2012 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 4 November 2012 at the Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was the eighteenth round of the 2012 Formula One season and the fourth Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 55-lap race was won by Lotus driver Kimi Räikkönen after starting from fourth position. Fernando Alonso finished second in a Ferrari with his championship rival Sebastian Vettel third for Red Bull, starting from the pit lane.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The victory was Räikkönen's first of the season, his first since he returned to Formula One at the start of the year, and his first since 2009. It was the first time a Lotus had won a race since Ayrton Senna's victory in Detroit in 1987. Alonso's second place allowed him to narrow the gap to Vettel in the Drivers' Championship to ten points. Räikkönen's radio communications during the race were widely reported, particularly his comment to his engineer on lap 23: “Just leave me alone, I know what to do.”


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
The Grand Prix was contested by twelve teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as constructors) were Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Lotus, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Caterham, HRT and Marussia. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought two types to tyre to the race; two dry compounds (soft "options" and medium "primes"). The Medium compound was distinguished by a white-band with the Soft compound being denoted by a yellow-band.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
The rules of the 2012 Grands Prix stipulated that all cars should use both types of tyre during the race unless the driver used any one of the two wet-weather compounds. Each driver was limited to eleven sets of dry tyres for the weekend. The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race; one was on the straight between turns seven and eight and the second on the straight linking turns ten and eleven.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
Heading into the eighteenth race of the season, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel led the Drivers' Championship with 240 points, ahead of championship rival Fernando Alonso on 227 points and Kimi Räikkönen with 173. Vettel's teammate Mark Webber was in fourth place on 167 points and Lewis Hamilton was a close fifth on 165 points. Red Bull were leading the Constructors' Championship with 407 points; Ferrari (316 points) and McLaren (306) were vying for second place. Lotus were fourth on 288 points and Mercedes were a further one-hundred and fifty two points adrift in fifth. The championship had so far been tumultuous, with seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the season. Räikkonen, his Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean, along with Sergio Pérez and Felipe Massa had finished in second and both Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi had finished in third.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
After finishing in second place behind Vettel in the Indian Grand Prix Alonso stated it was crucial that he stayed within reach of the Red Bull team and hoped his Ferrari team would finish strongly and not become inflicted with mechanical failures. Despite winning the last four Grands Prix Vettel felt that his lead in the Drivers' Championship remained "vulnerable" and did not believe his Red Bull team had proven themselves as the fastest in the field.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
Some teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Williams drivers Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado tested a new front wing during the Friday practice sessions which had three small flaps on its upper section but opted to run an older specification for qualifying and the race. Ferrari introduced upgrades for the F2012 as part of a strategy to remain in contention for the championship. The upgrades included a new front-wing which had new main planes. flap and endplates installed along with a revised front wing and the car's forward bargeboards were modified.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
Ferrari were allowed to break one of their four allocated curfews on the Thursday night before the race to allow mechanics to fit the updates onto the team's car. The team broke their second curfew one day later when a team member walked into the Ferrari garage early by mistake and did not work on both cars. Mercedes continued to evaluate a new "double DRS" system. Force India introduced a new chassis for Paul di Resta who had struggled with handling issues with his previous monocoque. Caterham revised their chassis which had modified exhausts, bodywork, new front brake ducts, revisions to their floor, diffuser and front wing to stay with Marussia in their battle for tenth place in the Constructors' Championship.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions (two on Friday and a third on Saturday) were held before the main Sunday race. The Friday afternoon and evening sessions each lasted ninety minutes. The third session was held on Saturday afternoon and lasted an hour. Conditions were hot and dry for the Friday practice sessions with air and track temperatures falling as sunset emerged meaning lap times were faster in the evening. Drivers had to cope with a tailwind between turns eight and nine.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Hamilton set the pace in the first practice session with a lap of one minute and 43.285 seconds on medium compound tyres, three-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Jenson Button in second. Vettel was third fastest with his Red Bull teammate Webber in fifth; they were sandwiched by Alonso. Michael Schumacher, Maldonado, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas and Räikkönen rounded out the top ten fastest drivers of the session.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Pérez ran wide at the pit lane entry onto the run-off area whilst turning right and attempting a full-speed race entry but avoided contact with the barriers with twelve minutes of the session remaining. In the second practice session, Vettel set the fastest lap of the day with a time of one minute and 41.751 seconds which was recorded late in the session; Hamilton finished with the second-fastest time and traded the fastest lap with Vettel.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
His teammate Button was third quickest, with Webber fourth despite losing time towards the end of the ninety-minute period with a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) cooling leak. Grosjean was fifth and his Lotus teammate Räikkönen took sixth. The two Ferrari drivers were seventh and eighth (with Alonso ahead of Massa). Maldonado and Pérez followed in the top ten.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Conditions remained hot and dry for the Saturday afternoon practice session. Hamilton set the fastest lap of the third session at one minute and 42.130 seconds on soft compound tyres, nearly three-tenths of a second faster than teammate Button. Vettel was in his garage for fifty-five minutes because his mechanics rectified a problem with his brake callipers; he managed to do one flying lap with the fastest time in the track's second sector to secure the third quickest-time overall. Vettel's time meant his teammate Webber was fourth and Nico Hülkenberg fifth.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Grosjean was fifth in the faster of the two Lotus cars despite losing track time as his brakes were bled in the pit lane. Maldonado took seventh having led the timesheets early in the session. Alonso, Räikkönen and di Resta completed the top ten ahead of qualifying. At the end of the session, Webber was driving slowly into the pit lane when Räikkönen closed towards the Red Bull driver who took evasive action to avoid a collision.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
“Those extra three-tenths came from my family! Our car works incredibly well around here. Our aero package really suits this track; the set-up was perfect, and everything came together perfectly for qualifying. My lap felt really great - I enjoyed it so much. I love this track! Still, I’m realistic: the race tomorrow is going to be tough. At the start, it’s down to the team to make sure the clutch performs perfectly because the getaway will be incredibly important. Our race pace is very strong, but so is Red Bull’s - and staying ahead will be tough, particularly with the double DRS zones. I really want to finish on a high for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. I’ll give it everything I’ve got tomorrow.”


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
The qualifying session held on Saturday evening was split into three parts. The first part ran for twenty minutes and eliminated the cars that finished the session eighteenth or lower from qualifying. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. The second part of qualifying lasted fifteen minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions eleven to seventeen. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth and decided pole position.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to change tyres before the race; these started the race fitted with the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times. The conditions for the qualifying periods were hot; the air temperature was between 29–30 °C (84–86 °F) and the track temperature was 31 °C (88 °F). Hamilton set the fastest time in all three sessions and clinched his sixth pole position of the season with a lap of one minute and 40.630 seconds.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
He was joined on the front row of the grid by Webber who recorded a time three-tenths of a second off Hamilton's pace. Vettel secured third position but was ordered by Red Bull via radio to stop on his in-lap because his car was running low on fuel. Officials from Formula One's governing body the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile were unable to extract a one-litre fuel sample required for analysis and Vettel was moved to the back of the grid. As a result, every driver who qualified behind Vettel was promoted one position. Maldonado inherited third and avoided elimination in the second part of qualifying and adjusted his balance for the final part of the session. Räikkönen started fourth and said his qualifying session was "good".


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
The race started at 17:00 GST (UTC+4). The conditions on the grid were dry before the race; the air temperature ranged between 29–30 °C (84–86 °F) and the track temperature was between 29–34 °C (84–93 °F). Most of the drivers started on the soft compound tyres with Vettel, Schumacher and Senna starting on medium compound tyres. Red Bull elected to start Vettel in the pit lane after taking his car out of parc fermé and changed his gear ratios along with his suspension as well as the creation of a low-drag aerodynamic setup to allow overtaking easier for the driver.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
de la Rosa did the same when a thread on a rear tyre blanket got tangled on his car at the start of the formation lap. As the five red lights went out to signal the start of the race, Hamilton maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first corner. Räikkönen made a quick start and passed Webber and Maldonado to run in second. Force India teammates Hülkenberg and di Resta, along with Grosjean and Senna tangled heading into the first corner.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Hülkenberg was forced to retire, while di Resta and Grosjean pitted at the end of the first lap for repairs; Grosjean for a replacement for a right-front punctured tyre. Alonso made a good start when he passed Button and overtook Webber after he got a run on the Red Bull after leaving turn nine. At the completion of the first lap, Hamilton led from Räikkönen, Maldonado, Alonso, Webber, Button, Massa, Kobayashi, Pérez, Schumacher, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Vergne, Glock, Kovalainen, Petrov, Pic, Karthikeyan, Senna, Vettel, de la Rosa, Grosjean and di Resta.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Hamilton complained of cold tyres and locked up heading into turn eight on lap two allowing Räikkönen to gain advantage but Hamilton withstood pressure from the Lotus driver to retain the lead. Vettel had made early progress passing the HRT's, Marussia and Caterhams, but his early progress came at the expense of his right-front wing endplate when he made contact with Senna's left-rear at turn eight switchback on the same lap. Hamilton regained the optimum temperature needed for his tyres and began to pull away from Räikkönen after setting a fastest lap of the race.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Alonso closed the gap to Maldonado in second place with the use of DRS in the main straights but was unable to close sufficiently to feign an overtaking manoeuvre because the Williams was fast in a straight line. Vettel chose not to pit for the time being, as the race was interrupted by the intervention of the safety car on lap nine. Rosberg was in the process of overtaking Karthikeyan when Karthikeyan's car began to fail with his hydraulic pressure which caused his steering to become heavy.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Rosberg, caught unawares by Karthikeyan's troubles, was launched over the back of the HRT and into the barrier, and scattered debris onto the circuit. Rosberg and Karthikeyan were unhurt. During the safety car period, Vettel was forced to pit when he swerved to avoid Ricciardo and crashed into the polystyrene bollard marking the start of the DRS zone, further damaging his wing. Red Bull took the opportunity to pit him early, with the downside being that Vettel would have to do 42 laps on the soft tyre when supplier Pirelli predicted they could only do 36. Vettel's car was also installed with a replacement front wing.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Racing resumed at the end of lap 14 when the safety car drove into the pit lane with Hamilton leading Räikkönen. Alonso drove slower than Webber, allowing the Red Bull drive to run alongside Alonso, but the Ferrari driver maintained third position. Vettel moved up to 19th place after he overtook di Resta and de la Rosa. Hamilton again started to pull away from Räikkönen.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Vettel started to battle Grosjean for 17th position and during an overtaking manoeuvre, Vettel drove off the racing line and onto the run-off area, and was required to give 17th back to Grosjean to avoid being issued with an penalty. Vettel came back onto the circuit and passed Grosjean to take over the position. Alonso began to close the gap to Maldonado who was running slower allowing Räikkonen to extend his hold over second place. Vergne allowed Vettel to move into eleventh on lap 20.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Hamilton slowed and pulled over to the side of the track with an fuel pressure problem on the same lap, handing the lead to Räikkönen. Alonso passed Maldonado in the second DRS zone by using his KERS system heading into the chicane to move into second one lap later. Webber attempted to pass Maldonado by taking the outside line on lap 23, but the two drivers made contact with Webber spinning onto the run-off area. Both drivers were able to continue and Webber fell down to seventh. When Räikkönen's engineer gave him information over the radio about the gap to second-place Alonso, he responded "Just leave me alone, I know what to do". He later gave his Lotus team T-shirts with the phrase on, after it was widely covered in the media.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
On the following lap Maldonado was passed by Button (who took the inside line) for third position, while Vettel moved into the points-scoring positions by passing Ricciardo for tenth on the same lap. Pérez moved in front of Massa for fifth on lap 25, while Vettel passed Schumacher for eighth place on the next lap. Kobayashi made the first scheduled pit stop for tyres on the 26th lap. Webber employed his DRS system on lap 26 on the straight linking turns ten and eleven in an attempt to overtake Massa, and ran on the outside line side-by-side with Massa.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Webber ran wide onto the run-off area, and made contact with Massa who was sent into a spin after hitting the kerb at turn twelve. Massa and Schumacher pitted on lap 27 and rejoined in 14th and 15th positions respectively. Alonso pitted for medium compounds tyres on lap 29 and remerged in seventh behind Vettel. On lap 30, Pérez passed Maldonado with the assistance of DRS for fourth place. Maldonado made his pit stop on the same lap and Webber was ordered not to battle Vettel for position.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Red Bull called Webber into the pit lane for medium compound tyres on lap 31 allowing Vettel into second. Räikkönen pitted from the lead on lap 32 for medium compound tyres and remained in the lead with Vettel close behind. Button closed the gap between himself and Alonso (after setting a new fastest lap–a 1:46.495–on lap 32) by lap 33 and feigned an overtake at turn 21 but had slight oversteer. Räikkönen began to extend the time gap from himself and Vettel on lap 34 who was preserving the lifespan of his soft compound tyres. Grosjean, fifth, had worn tyres and was caught by di Resta, Pèrez and Webber. Vettel was caught into the pit lane by Red Bull for their mechanics to fit a new set of soft tyres and remerged in fourth in front of Grosjean.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 39  di Resta forced Pérez wide at turn 13; as Pérez rejoined the circuit, he cut back across the front of Grosjean and the two made contact at the next corner, which in turn forced Grosjean into the path of Webber who was attempting to drive on the inside line. Grosjean and Webber retired because of damage to their cars and the debris on-track from the accident called for the second safety car period of the race. The safety remained out for three laps, during which marshals cleared the track of debris.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Pérez was given a ten-second stop-go penalty by the stewards on the 42nd lap for which he served three laps later. Räikkönen began to rebuild his lead over Alonso once the safety car came in on the end of lap 42. Alonso was also being harried by Button; Button himself was being harried by Vettel in fourth. Vettel was in the tow of Button heading towards turn eight and got a run on the McLaren driver driving into turn eleven but was unable to pass.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Button and Vettel's duel allowed Alonso to break free, and he started chasing down Räikkönen in the last five laps. Vettel tried again on lap 48 and took the outside line to attempt a pass heading into turn eleven, but Button defended his position. Four laps later Vettel lined up another passing manoeuvre on Button (who went wide heading into turn ten) by employing his DRS in the run up to turn eleven and passed the McLaren driver around the outside to take over third place.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Alonso drew to within 1.9 seconds of Räikkönen on lap 53, but was unable to get close enough to challenge the Lotus driver, who held on to secure his (and Lotus') first victory of the season, and was the eighth driver to win a race in the 2012 season. Alonso was second, 0.8 seconds behind Räikkönen with Vettel third. Button finished fourth. Maldonado took fifth despite not being able to use his car's KERS after the first safety car period. He was seven seconds ahead of a close group comprising Kobayashi, Massa, Senna and di Resta.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Massa closed on the Sauber driver late in the race, who was afflicted with an issue with downshifting and was unable to fully recharge his KERS, and Senna and di Resta reduced the time gap to Massa who maintained their positions throughout the remainder of the race. Ricciardo held off Schumacher in the final five laps to secure the final points-scoring position in tenth. Vergne was classified in twelfth place, with Kovalainen, Glock, Pérez, Petrov and de la Rosa the last of the classified finishers.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in a later press conference. Räikkonen said that he was "very happy" for the Lotus team and himself after a difficult second half of the season. He also stated the development of his car helped to increase his straight line speed although he later revealed that he was using the same car from the Korean Grand Prix. Alonso was pleased with his second-place result but also felt Ferrari was not the most competitive team over the race weekend.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
He also felt the modifications that Ferrari brought helped him to become quicker. Vettel said that despite starting the race from the pit lane he still believed he could finish in the top three. He also denied that his result was a "surprise" to him and Red Bull as he believed that he was fast enough to catch up to the leaders. During the podium interviews which were conducted by former driver and BBC commentator David Coulthard, Räikkönen and Vettel swore.


2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
The swearing which was broadcast on live television prompted an apology from Vettel, and led to the FIA director of communications Norman Howell to write a letter to the teams at the request of FIA president Jean Todt reminding drivers over the issue and stated disciplinary action would be enacted in the future.