2012 Arkansas Amendment 91, History
Arkansas operated the state highway system debt-free from 1972 until 1999, when voters authorized $575 million in GARVEE bonds for Interstate highway rehabilitation (later known as the Interstate Rehabilitation Program). Arkansas voters reauthorized the IRP in 2011 at the same amount to continue rehabilitating Interstate highway pavements.


2012 Arkansas Amendment 91, History
Issue 1 sought to allow issuance of $1.3 billion of four-lane highway construction and improvement bonds, with a sales tax increase used as the revenue stream to pay off the bonds in ten years. The sales tax increase would end once the bonds were paid off. The annual Arkansas Poll indicated support in October, with 53 percent in favor and 42 percent opposed.


2012 Arkansas Amendment 91, History, Support
The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) and Arkansas State Highway Commission strongly supported Issue 1.


2012 Arkansas Amendment 91, Results
The tax went into effect on July 1, 2013. Stephens Inc. issued the bonds for the state.


2012 Arkansas Amendment 91, Results
AHTD Director Scott Bennett later testified to the United States House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit regarding Issue 1's success.


2012 Arkansas Democratic presidential primary
The 2012 Arkansas Democratic presidential primary was held on May 22. Incumbent Barack Obama won the primary against Tennessee attorney and perennial candidate John Wolfe Jr, who unexpectedly captured nearly 42% of the vote. All 47 delegates were allocated to, and pledged to vote for Barack Obama at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. While John Wolfe Jr. qualified for 19 delegates to the convention by virtue of his performances in Arkansas, State party officials said Wolfe missed two paperwork filing deadlines related to the delegate process, therefore he was not eligible for any delegates. Wolfe commenced legal proceedings to have delegates in his name seated. Eight other unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, also attended the convention and cast their votes as well.


2012 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season
The 2012 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season was the 15th season of the highest classification of high school boys soccer in Arkansas since being sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association. The soccer season officially began February 27, although 7A conference matches did not begin until March 1, 2012. The season concluded May 18, 2012 with the championship match.


2012 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season, Conference Alignment
The 2012 season was the second under the 2010 - 2012 classification cycle. Thus, conference alignment remained unchanged from the previous season.


2012 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season, Regular season
Teams in the 7A West conference played a single round-robin of seven games, playing once against each opponent. Teams in the 7A/6A Central played each other home-and-away in a double round-robin of fourteen games. Matches finishing in a draw after 80 minutes went directly to a penalty shootout. The winner of the shootout was awarded a win, whereas the loser was awarded a loss.


2012 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season, Regular season, 7A/6A East
Schools in the 7A/6A conference played each other at least once, with some teams playing each other home and away. Thus, teams played a different number of games. Power ratings were used to determine conference ranking. Games played only once were counted twice in the power ratings to make all teams equal on 14 comparable games.


2012 Arkansas High School 7A Boys Soccer Season, State Playoffs
Seeding for the west teams were determined by the final standings during conference play. Power rankings determined the six out of the eight central teams that advanced to the state playoffs. Hall and West Memphis were considered central teams for seeding purposes. Power ratings were calculated using the following procedures:


2012 Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team
The 2012 Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team represented the University of Arkansas in baseball at the Division I level in the NCAA for the 2012 season. Dave van Horn was the coach in his tenth year at his alma mater. The team clinched a berth in the 2012 College World Series after winning the Waco Super Regional on June 11.


2012 Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team, Rankings
^ Collegiate Baseball ranks 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. † NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. * New poll was not released for this week so for comparison purposes the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.


2012 Arkansas Razorbacks football team
The 2012 Arkansas Razorbacks football team represented the University of Arkansas during the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Razorbacks played their home games at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville and War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were a member of the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference.


2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team
The 2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team represents Arkansas State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by first year head coach Gus Malzahn and played their home games at Liberty Bank Stadium as  members of the Sun Belt Conference. Arkansas State recorded a Sun Belt conference championship on the way to a 10–3 season. Malzahn vacated the position prior to the team's bowl game to assume the head coach position at Auburn University. Defensive coordinator John Thompson led the team as interim head coach to victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes in the 2013 GoDaddy.com Bowl.


2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team, Game summaries, @ Oregon
1st quarter scoring: ORE - Kenjon Barner 4-yard run (Dion Jordan pass from Jackson Rice); ORE - D. Thomas 12-yard pass from Marcus Mariota (Rob Beard kick); ORE - Josh Huff 4-yard pass from Mariota (Beard kick); ORE - Barner 17-yard run (Beard kick)


2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team, Game summaries, @ Oregon
2nd quarter scoring: A-STATE - Brian Davis 43-yard field goal; ORE - Thomas 12-yard pass from Mariota (Beard kick); ORE - Thomas 33-yard run (Beard kick); ORE - Byron Marshall 3-yard run (Beard kick); A-STATE - Julian Jones 72-yard pass from Ryan Aplin (Davis, Brian kick)


2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team, Game summaries, @ Oregon
3rd quarter scoring: A-STATE - Davis 29-yard field goal; A-STATE - Josh Jarboe 6-yard pass from Aplin (Davis kick)


2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team, Game summaries, @ Oregon
4th quarter scoring: ORE - Rahsaan Vaughn 7-yard pass from Bryan Bennett (Beard kick); A-STATE - Carlos McCants 38-yard pass from Aplin (Davis kick); A-STATE - Aplin 1-yard run (Davis kick)


2012 Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions football team
The 2012 Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions football team represented the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Golden Lions were led by fifth year head coach Monte Coleman and played their home games at Golden Lion Stadium as a member of the West Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). They finished with an overall record of ten wins and two losses (10–2, 8–1 SWAC) and as SWAC champions after they defeated Jackson State in the SWAC Championship Game.


2012 Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions football team, Media
Golden Lions football games were an exclusive presentation of KUAP 89.7 FM. They broadcast every game in the 2012 season.


2012 Armed Forces Bowl
The 2012 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 29, 2012, at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas in the United States. The tenth edition of the Armed Forces Bowl began at 10:45 a.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It featured the Rice Owls from Conference USA against the Air Force Falcons from the Mountain West Conference and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. The Falcons accepted their invitation after earning a 6–5 record in their first eleven games of the season, while the Owls advanced to the game per C-USA's bowl contingency plan after earning a 6-6 record.


2012 Armed Forces Bowl
This also marked the bowl's return to Amon G. Carter Stadium after a two-year absence because of renovations to the stadium. For 2010 and 2011, the game was held at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in University Park on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU).


2012 Armed Forces Bowl, Teams
This was the seventh meeting between these two teams. Air Force leads the all-time record 7-2. The last time they played prior to this meeting was in 1998, when both schools were in the Western Athletic Conference (then a 16-team conference, now a non-football conference).


2012 Armed Forces Bowl, Teams, Rice
In a program not particularly known for football success, the Owls' season had an inauspicious start (2-6). Despite being one loss away from postseason ineligibility, Rice rallied to end the regular season at 6-6. Per Conference USA's contingency plan, the Owls were assigned the Armed Forces Bowl.


2012 Armed Forces Bowl, Teams, Air Force
The Falcons' season thus far has been one of struggle; despite losing to both the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen, the Falcons still managed a respectable 5-2 record in the Mountain West Conference. After defeating the Hawaiʻi Warriors to bring their season record to 6–5, the Falcons accepted the third invitation of the 2012–13 NCAA Bowl season to the 2012 Armed Forces Bowl.


2012 Armed Forces Bowl, Teams, Air Force
This will be the Falcons' fourth Armed Forces bowl; they had previously played in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 games against the California Golden Bears and twice against the Houston Cougars, respectively. Although the Falcons lost to the Golden Bears in 2007 and the Cougars in 2008, they would rally to beat the same Cougars in the 2009 game, compiling an overall Armed Forces Bowl record of 1-2.


2012 Armenian local elections
Local elections were held in Armenia on 12 February and 9 September 2012.


2012 Armenian local elections, February elections
The February elections saw the ruling Republican Party of Armenia retain control of thirty cities.


2012 Armenian local elections, September elections
The September local elections were held in 438 municipalities, including Gyumri where Samvel Balasanyan of Prosperous Armenia was elected mayor. Voter turnout averaged 49.52%, ranging from 15% in Gai to 93.8% in Aravus.


2012 Armenian local elections, September elections
A total of 716 candidates contested the mayoral positions, of which 342 were members of the Republican Party, 289 were independents, 48 were members of Prosperous Armenia, 20 were members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and twelve were from the Rule of Law party.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on May 6, 2012. President Serzh Sargsyan's ruling Republican Party gained more majority of the parliament seats. Armenia's wealthiest man Gagik Tsarukyan's Prosperous Armenia came second with about one fourth of the seats, while ANC, ARF, Rule of Law and Heritage won less than 10 percent each.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Background
In 2011, Armenia faced unprecedented opposition protests over the disputed 2008 presidential election, amongst other issues. Since then changes welcomed by the EU have been made, who stated that "the next parliamentary and presidential elections will be an important benchmark in Armenia reform's path."


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Background, Electoral system and controversy over it
Out of a total of 131 seats in the National Assembly, 90 are distributed between parties using a proportional system, while the other 41 are elected from constituencies by a majoritarian voting system. The election threshold is 5% for parties and 7% for alliances, in this case the only alliance was the Armenian National Congress.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Background, Electoral system and controversy over it
Months before the election, there was a movement for the elimination of constituency seats and going to a full party-list proportional system. Most parties, including 3 of 5 parliamentary parties (ARF, PAP and Heritage), supported this initiative bringing up the issue of "district authorities" which were traditionally backed up by the Republican Party. The opposition bloc Armenian National Congress also supported it.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Background, Electoral system and controversy over it
On February 28, Heritage and ANC joined the ARF protests in front of the National Assembly building, but on February 28, the National Assembly voted 30-54 against the proposal.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Parties
A total of 9 parties have been registered to participate in the election:


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Constituency candidates
There a total of 41 electoral districts in Armenia, 13 in capital Yerevan and 28 in provinces each varying around 50,000 voters. 139 candidates have been registered in 41 districts to run for constituency seats. 54 were non-partisans candidates and the opposition bloc Armenian National Congress has the most 38 candidates.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Constituency candidates
Biggest interest was given to the 7th district which includes Malatia-Sebastia district of Yerevan, where the opposition alliance Armenian National Congress candidate Nikol Pashinyan is going to challenge RPA-backed oligarch Samvel Aleksanyan. Other notable candidates are Ruben Hayrapetyan, the president of the Football Federation of Armenia in 1st district of Avan and one the wealthiest Armenian businessman Gagik Tsarukyan (PAP leader) in 28th district which includes Abovyan city and surrounding villages.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Constituency candidates
The full list of constituency candidates in Armenian is available .


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Constituency candidates
Edmon Marukyan was the only non-partisan candidate who was elected to the National Assembly. In 2015 he created Bright Armenia party.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Campaign
On March 19, the Heritage party introduced its proportional list, which also included some members of the Free Democrats party as of their agreement to participate together in this election.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Campaign
The official election campaign began on April 8, but the first campaigns were on April 10, because of Easter. None of the participating parties held campaign rallies on April 24, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. ARF, ANC Heritage, Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia and the Communist Party attended a memorial at Tsitsernakaberd.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Campaign
May 5, the day before the election is "Day of Silence", when most kinds of campaigning are prohibited by law.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Campaign, Balloon explosion incident
On May 4, the last official day of the campaign, during the Republican Party concert and rally in Republic Square of Yerevan, dozens of balloons filled with hydrogen exploded, resulting in the injury of at least 144 people according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. A few hours later it was reported that out of total 154 people hospitalized, 98 were still in hospitals and 28 were in intensive-care units.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Oversight, Joint headquarters of PAP, ANC and ARF
On April 6, four parties (Prosperous Armenia, Heritage, ARF and ANC) created joint headquarters with a view to holding free and fair elections. Although, Prosperous Armenia is in a coalition with RPA and RoL, they also agreed to join the opposition manifest. On April 19, Heritage withdrew from this agreement announcing that it was not formed to control the election, but rather as a pre-election campaign headquarters for the ex-president Robert Kocharyan's comeback into Armenia's political life and probable participation in the 2013 presidential election.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Oversight, Joint headquarters of PAP, ANC and ARF
On April 28, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (9 MPs) and Prosperous Armenia (21 MPs) appealed to the Constitutional Court to rule unconstitutional articles that prohibits the publication of the lists of voters that actually took part in the election. Although, Heritage deputies didn't sign the appeal, party leader Raffi Hovhannisyan said that they also support that initiative. Vahe Grigoryan, the lawyer that represents the appeal, said that the Constitutional Court is "going to make a choice between rationality and dictation [from the authorities]".


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Oversight, Joint headquarters of PAP, ANC and ARF
Levon Zurabyan, the ANC speaker, said that each party will have up to 5-6 representatives at each polling station. Also, the parties have agreed to create joint 'mobile' groups that will respond to all reports about election fraud by traveling to the given precinct to study and eliminate the vote rigging.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Oversight, Joint headquarters of PAP, ANC and ARF
The Constitutional Court heard the case on May 5, the day before the election and refused the appeal.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Oversight, Local
31,451 observers from local non-government organizations were registered to oversight the election. Largest ones are the "Panarmenian Youth Association" (Համահայկական երիտասարդական ասոցիացիա) with 5,555 observers, "The Choice is Yours" (Ընտրությունը քոնն է) with 4,000 observers, "Free Society Institute" (Ազատ հասարակության ինստիտուտ) with 2,512 observers and "Fist" (Բռունցք) with 2,136 observers. Other organizations have less than 2,000 observers.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Oversight, International
647 international observers were registered by the Central Electoral Commission. Largest missions were:


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Opinion polls, Exit poll
The Gallup International Association held an exit poll among 22,410 people in 131 polling stations. 46.35 % refused to answer, while 56.65% answered as follows: 43.3% Republican Party of Armenia, 29.3% Prosperous Armenia, 6.4% Armenian National Congress, 6.5% Heritage, 6.2% Rule of Law, 5.2% Armenian Revolutionary Federation, 2.2% Armenian Communist Party, 0.6% Democratic Party of Armenia, 0.4% Unified Armenians Party.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Claims of electoral irregularities
The joint headquarters of ANC, PAP and ARF reported about the oxidation of the ink stamped in passports of voted citizens, which were done to avoid multiple voting by same citizens.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Claims of electoral irregularities
ANC, ARF and Heritage criticized the authorities for abusing the administrative resource in favor of the ruling party. Both said the elections were marred by widespread vote buying schemes and other violations that influenced the outcome of the vote.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Claims of electoral irregularities
On May 11, the joint headquarters of ANC, ARF and Prosperous Armenia stated that the election "doesn't reflect the real image of the popular support of political forces".


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
On an interview on May 6, the election day, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, answering to a question about probable post-election protests, said that they will appeal every electoral violation "in all legal means". Then he continued, that he's not sure how successful it would be, but, in former cases the opposition forces have been working separate and that this time the forces are tripled in the joint headquarters of the ANC, PAP and ARF.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
On May 7, the Armenian National Congress announced that they will hold a demonstration in Freedom Square on May 8. During the last demonstration of ANC, Levon Zurabyan, the ANC speaker, said that they will meet again on May 8 and summarize the election and together with the protesters will discuss their future moves.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
Two days after the 2012 parliamentary election, about 5,000 supporters of ANC marched in the streets of Yerevan denouncing "fraud" and calling for the election results to be thrown out. Levon Ter-Petrosyan and other ANC leaders said President Serzh Sargsyan had rigged the election and demanded new polls. International monitors said the election was peaceful, but criticised "interference" by the ruling party, which it said violated election law in the run-up to the vote.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
The ANC leaders addressing thousands on Freedom Square, claimed that the vote giving the ruling RPA a majority in National Assembly does not reflect the real lineup of political forces in the country. Armenian Times editor Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the opposition bloc will not give up the seven mandates and will enter parliament and continue its daily fight to change the political situation. Although, Levon Ter-Petrosyan said that who would not pick his mandate, because it's not appropriate for a former president become an MP.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
Later he said that bribery, repeated ballot, voter list fraud and other violations were widespread during the election. Another ANC leading member, Aram Manukyan said have evidence of violations committed by the authorities, especially of inflating voter lists, tampering with stamps and ink, pressure on voters and candidates’ proxies and others. He then added that they will appeal the outcome of the elections at the Constitutional Court.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
On May 18, the Armenian National Congress applied to the Constitutional Court demanding the cancellation of proportional-system election results. On May 31, the Constitutional Court rejected the appeal.


2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Aftermath and protests
On June 26 second demonstration of the Armenian National Congress after the 6 May election took place at Freedom Square of Yerevan. Levon Ter-Petrosyan stated that if Prosperous Armenia wants to become a serious political force, they should not support President Sargsyan in upcoming presidential election.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes
The 2012 border clashes between the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place in early June. The clashes resulted in casualties on both sides.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Background
The two countries fought a war in the early 1990s over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, while tensions have recently escalated. Since the beginning of 2011, 63 people have been killed in skirmishes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Background
The most recent tensions have been concentrated along the section of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border that runs between Tavush Province and Qazakh Rayon and started in April with cross-border firing on unknown origin.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Background
Previously, it had been noted that Azerbaijan was increasing its defense spending with the goal of ending occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh following a US$1.6 billion purchase of military equipment from Israel after it had been largely kept out of other arms markets with the Armenia-Russia relations and Armenia-United States relations hampering their efforts to acquire arms.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Background
On June 2, in response to the reported wounding of a Nerkin Karmirarghbyur resident by gunfire from Azerbaijan hours after a scheduled OSCE monitoring visit, OSCE monitoring officials conducted a unilateral field monitoring mission in the Tavush region to investigate recent incidents along the line of contact at the villages of Aygepar, Moses and Nerkin Karmiraghbyur, and make photographic and video records of the traces of the shelling.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Events
The first clashes occurred early on June 4, in which three Armenian soldiers were killed and six wounded near the villages of Berdavan and Chinari in Tavush Province. An Armenian Defense Ministry statement issued the same day said the soldiers had died while fighting back a cross-border incursion by Azerbaijani forces into the northern Tavush region during which "the enemy was repelled, suffering casualties."


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Events
The following day, four Azerbaijani soldiers were killed near Asagi Askipara, in the Qazakh Rayon of western Azerbaijan. An Armenian Defense Ministry statement said they had been part of a unit of 15 to 20 soldiers who had tried to infiltrate Armenian positions in the vicinity of Voskepar village in Tavish province. A separate shooting killed a fifth Azerbaijani soldier in the same district.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Events
Initially, Azerbaijan refuted allegations of gunfire at the border or any Azerbaijani deaths and explained the incident involving deaths of three Armenian soldiers as a result of "internal disagreements within the Armenian army." Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry later confirmed that the June 5 skirmish had taken place and had resulted in the death of five Azerbaijani soldiers, four of whom died during the confrontation, with a fifth killed later, shot from a distant position. Azerbaijan said that the fighting took place as a result of a subversive group from Armenia trying to penetrate into Azerbaijani territory at the village of Asagi Askipara.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Events
On June 6, according to Nagorno Karabakh's Defence Ministry, Azeri soldiers attempted to infiltrate into Nagorno-Karabakh, near Horadiz. One Karabakhi soldier was killed and two others were wounded. Panorama reported shooting from the Azeri side the next day.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction
At the start of the incidents, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Armenia as part of a visit to the three southern Caucasus states. Both sides accused each other of a military diversion timed to coincide with her visit to the Caucasus. In Armenia, on June 4 and after hearing of the June 4 deaths, Clinton stated at a press conference that "I am very concerned about the danger of escalation of tensions and the senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction
The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and therefore force must not be used." She said that she had told President Serzh Sarkisian she would make those points in Baku when there. At the same press conference, Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated "Azerbaijan is not satisfied by the fact that every day there are violations by Azerbaijanis on the line of contact of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. They are trying to transfer the tension, to escalate the situation onto the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan which greatly undermines the negotiation process, as well as threatens the regional stability. The responsibility for all possible consequences of such activities lies on the Azeri side."


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction
On June 6, after talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, Clinton said that "the cycle of violence and retaliation must end."


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction
On June 8, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov said that Azerbaijan's forces "were ready to clear Nagorno-Karabakh of its Armenian occupiers."


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction
The U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group commented saying;


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction
Such senseless acts violate the commitment of the parties to refrain from the use of force and to seek a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and contradict the spirit of the January 23, 2012, joint statement of Presidents [Ilham] Aliyev, Sarkisian, and [Dmitry] Medvedev.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction, Media
Speaking about why international bodies did not make statements "naming and shaming" whichever side started the violence, Thomas de Waal explained that there was no way for them to know due to the small number (six) of OSCE monitors in the field, and 20,000 soldiers on both sides.


2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, Reaction, Media
The Armenia media suggested that Azerbaijan's aim is to increase tension along the border so that Azerbaijan can accuse the OSCE Minsk Group of an inability to control the situation and guarantee peace. Azerbaijan would then attempt to transfer the Karabakh issue from the OSCE to the United Nations because that organisation has recognized Azerbaijan's territorial integrity within its Soviet-drawn borders. Also, in 2012 Azerbaijan assumed non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour
The 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race for GT3 cars, GT4 cars, Group 3E Series Production Cars and Dubai 24 Hour cars. The event, which was staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bathurst, in New South Wales, Australia on 26 February 2012, was the tenth running of the Bathurst 12 Hour, and the sixth since the race was revived in 2007.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour
There were 25 starters in the race, the smallest field since the inaugural Bathurst 12 Hour event in 1991. Four of the six classes, B, C, E and I, each had only three starters.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour
The race was won by 2011 Armour All Bathurst 12 Hour winners Darryl O'Young of Hong Kong and Christopher Mies of Germany with their new co-driver for 2012, German Christer Jöns. The trio drove a Phoenix Racing prepared Audi R8 LMS GT3, the same model that Mies and O'Young had driven to victory in 2011.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Class structure
Classes D & E were open to Group 3E Series Production Cars and Class I was for cars complying with the regulations for the 2012 Dubai 24 Hour race.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Qualifying
Two qualifying sessions were run on Saturday 25 February with New Zealand driver Craig Baird setting the fastest time of 2:07.56 in the Clearwater Racing entered Ferrari 458 GT3 and Allan Simonsen next in the Maranello Motorsports Ferrari 458 GT3. However, as grid positions were determined by aggregating the lap times of all drivers in each three-driver entry and the three slowest drivers in each four-driver car, pole position was awarded to the Phoenix Racing entered Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Christer Jöns, Christopher Mies and Darryl O'Young. Simonsen's Ferrari started second on the grid ahead of the Clearwater Racing Ferrari and the Lago Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 of Roger Lago, David Russell and Wayne Park. The Hunter Sports Group Porsche 997 GT3 Cup was the first of the Class B cars in eighth grid position.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Qualifying
The Clearwater Racing Ferrari was forced to carry addition weight during the race as, in a form of parity equalisation, any car undercutting a 2:08 lap time in any pre-race session was levied with a 50 kg penalty.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Qualifying
Two cars were withdrawn before the race. The Consolidated Chemicals Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 was crashed by Ted Huglin during Qualifying and could not be repaired in time for the race  and the Mark Bell Racing Ford BF Falcon XR8 did not start after only one of its three drivers had lapped during Practice or Qualifying within the mandatory 130% of the fastest time set during Qualifying.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
The Phoenix Racing Audi won by 1 minute and 13 seconds over the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG jointly run by international team Black Falcon and Australian team Erebus Racing. The Mercedes was driven by Dutch driver Jeroen Bleekemolen, American Bret Curtis and Australians Peter Hackett and Tim Slade. The two leading cars finished two laps ahead of the third placed car, the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 driven by New Zealand driver Craig Baird, Irish driver Matt Griffin and Indonesian driver Weng Sun Mok.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
The race was affected by inclement weather, with rain falling for over eight of the races twelve hours, exacting a high price amongst the fastest cars in the race. Of the Class A starters, only the three podium placed cars finished, with crashes eliminating the other two Audis, a second Mercedes and a Lamborghini.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
The only other car in the class was the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 which retired early with mechanical problems, but not before the car's lead driver, Dane Allan Simonsen, established a new outright lap record for the Mount Panorama circuit, the first time the record had been held by a GT car.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
In fourth place outright, 14 laps behind the Clearwater Ferrari, was the first of the Class B cars, the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup fielded by the Tinkler Motorsports team owned by former mining magnate Nathan Tinkler. Tinkler himself was one of the drivers, joined by professional V8 Supercar drivers Steven Johnson and Steven Richards. They won Class B by ten laps over the similar Porsche of New Zealand team Motorsport Services Limited, driven by Simon McLennan, Brett Niall and Scott O'Donnell.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
Class C was won by the Donut King Racing Nissan R35 GT-R driven by Tony Alford, Peter Leemhuis and Adam Beechey. The Nissan finished ten laps ahead of the Lotus Exige of Rob Thomson, Sarah Harley and Austrian driver Christian Klien.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
Class D was won by the HSV GTS of James Atkinson, Dean Lillie and Rick Newman. It inherited the class lead after the Maximum Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX STi of Dean Herridge, John O'Dowd and Angus Kennard suffered a turbocharger failure. The damage was repaired and the Subaru still finished second in class, 11 laps down.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
Class E saw the HSV VXR Turbo of Elliot Barbour, Scott Pye, New Zealand V8 Utes racer Chris Pither finishing first in class and seventh outright. The HSV finished 13 laps ahead of the second placed GWS Personnel Motorsport BMW 130i driven by Angus Chapel, Richard Gartner and Tony Prior, and nine laps ahead of the first Class D car.


2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, Race
Class I saw only two classified finishers with the Dutch SEAT León TDI of Ivo Breukers, Henk Thijssen and Australian driver Martin Bailey winning the class and finishing in sixteenth position outright, over 100 laps behind the winning Audi. A pair of Mazda RX-7s completed the class with one retiring after 53 laps and the other still running at the finish but having completed only 82 laps.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600
The 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 was a touring car motor race for V8 Supercars. It was the Round 12 of the 2012 International V8 Supercars Championship and the 22nd year running of the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit race. It took place from 19 to 21 October at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Race 22 was won by Triple Eight Race Engineering's Jamie Whincup and Sébastien Bourdais from pole position. Will Davison and Mika Salo of Ford Performance Racing won the following day's second race from fourth place.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600
Whincup took the pole position by posting the fastest lap in the top ten shootout but lost his lead to Salo at the start which was twice red flagged for a total of 50 minutes because of two separate start-line crashes that reduced the distance of the race from 102 to 79 laps. Bourdais challenged Salo over laps 23 and 32 but he could not overtake Salo on both occasions as the latter struggled with acceleration. Whincup later relieved Bourdais and retook the lead to build up a six-and-a-half-second advantage that was reduced to nothing when the safety car was deployed for debris retrieval. He held off Jonathon Webb for the rest of Race 22 to claim the 60th victory of his career.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600
For Race 23, Whincup took his second consecutive pole position with the fastest lap time of qualifying. His co-driver Bourdais led the first 36 laps from Marc Lieb in second and Will Power in third before his first green flag pit stop for fuel, tyres and was relieved by Whincup. Salo led for the next 20 laps until his own stop and his car was driven by Davison. Tim Slade led the field after a safety car period for debris retrieval and he held it until Davison overtook him for the lead on the 80th lap. Davison maintained the lead for the remainder of the race to take his 13th career win after holding off Whincup in the final five laps.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600
Whincup increased his Drivers' Championship lead with 3,060 points and Mark Winterbottom moved from third to second with 2,842 points. Craig Lowndes fell to third with 2,812 points and Will Davison's victory in Race 23 maintained him fourth with 2,503 points. Shane van Gisbergen was fifth with 2,182 points. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering led with 5,900 points and Ford Performance Racing remained in second with 5,285 points. Stone Brothers Racing and Holden Brothers Racing kept third and fourth with three rounds left in the season.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
The 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 was the 12th of the 15 touring car rounds of the Australian sedan-based V8 Supercars Championship, the third and final endurance round of the 2012 season, and the 22nd edition of the event. It took place on the weekend of the 19–21 October 2012 at the nine-turn 2.96 km (1.84 mi) temporary Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland. The 2011 race saw the electronic detection sensors disabled and chicane bollards dismantled to allow drivers to cut those corners after claims of inconsistent decisions. This meant the size of those kerbs were enlarged to address the issue for the 2012 edition. Teams were informed via e-mail that a driver observed cutting the turns would be imposed a pit lane drive-through or a minimum 50-point penalty.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
After winning the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with co-driver Paul Dumbrell two weeks earlier, Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Jamie Whincup led the Drivers' Championship with 2,772 points. His teammate Craig Lowndes was 161 points behind in second and Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom was third with 2,584 points. Winterbottom's teammate Will Davison was fourth with 2,302 points and Shane van Gisbergen of Stone Brothers Racing was fifth with 2,020 points. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering led with 5,408 points; Ford Performance Racing was second with 4,886 points. Stone Brothers Racing and Holden Racing Team battled for third and Brad Jones Racing was in fifth place. Whincup and his international co-driver Sébastien Bourdais were the round's defending winners from 2011.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
All 28 cars which contested the regular V8 Supercar season were entered in the race. Each car was driven by a full-time International V8 Supercar Championship driver, and a mandatory international guest driver who took part in a separate racing series.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
These guest drivers were recruited from a variety of racing categories, including the IndyCar Series (such as Will Power, partnering Winterbottom and Bourdais again joining Whincup), the World Endurance Championship (such as Darren Turner, partnering James Courtney), the FIA GT1 World Championship (such as Peter Kox, partnering James Moffat), the International Superstars Series (such as Gianni Morbidelli joining Dean Fiore), and the Rolex Sports Car Series (such as Ricky Taylor partnering Lee Holdsworth). Each international driver was required to complete a minimum of 34 laps out of the scheduled 102 in both races.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
There were two driver changes for the race. Todd Kelly was deemed unfit to compete in the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury he picked up at a training camp, which required surgery. His car was driven by Tim Blanchard for the rest of the season, starting from the Gold Coast 600. Garry Rogers Motorsport replaced its regular driver Alexandre Prémat with Greg Ritter at the Gold Coast.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
At the Bathurst 1000, a poor race from Winterbottom dropped him from second to third in the points standings. Afterwards he admitted his chances of becoming the Drivers' Champion was "on life support" but he was aware that an error from Whincup or his international co-driver in the Gold Coast could impact the title chase. Lowndes's third-place at Bathurst moved him to second in the standings. He spoke of his certainty that Ford Performance Racing would improve, "No doubt FPR would be disappointed. They had two strong cars and one on pole and they didn't get a result.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Background
If TeamVodafone were in that position, it'd really annoy us. The championship's far from a foregone conclusion and both Will and Frosty will bounce back very strong." Whincup, the pre-race favourite, argued that Winterbottom and Davison should not be ruled out of the title fight and said he felt they would be a threat at the Gold Coast. Nevertheless, despite feeling not as motivated to win due to burnout, he said that he wanted to race cleanly for the weekend and felt his motivation to win would be there for the race.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Practice
A total of four 40-minute practice sessions were held on 19 October, with the second and third sessions restricted to the international co-drivers. The first morning session and the fourth session held in the late afternoon were open to all drivers. Davison lapped fastest in the first practice session at 1-minute, 12.0639 seconds, followed by Ritter, Winterbottom, Lowndes, Courtney, Rick Kelly, Holdsworth, Michael Caruso, Tony D'Alberto and Steve Owen.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Practice
Ten minutes in, Taz Douglas prompted the session's first stoppage as he struck the turn 2 apex kerb and damaged his Holden Commodore VE2's left-hand side in a collision with the exit concrete wall. David Reynolds removed his car's left-hand side doors as a result of a sudden oversteer putting him into a barrier leaving the same corner and necessitating a second stoppage. The first of the international co-driver sessions was led by Marc Lieb with a lap of 1 minute, 13.0563 seconds set in the final five minutes.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Practice
Simon Pagenaud, Bourdais, Nick Heidfeld, Ryan Briscoe, Vitantonio Liuzzi, James Hinchcliffe, Turner, David Brabham and Stéphane Sarrazin made up positions two through ten. While the session passed without a major incident, Lucas di Grassi and Justin Wilson ventured onto the turn 11 escape road and Jamie Campbell-Walter went straight into the tyre barrier leaving the final hairpin.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Practice
Lieb again was fastest of all the international co-drivers with a 1 minute, 12.4763 seconds time on his final lap of the third practice session. Briscoe, Pagenaud, Sarrazin, Richard Lyons, Brabham, Mika Salo, Bourdais, di Grassi and Heidfeld followed in the top ten. During the session, more drivers ventured onto the track's escape roads, and three drivers had crashes. Peter Dumbreck glanced the turn 14 exit barrier and Boris Said lightly touched the tyre barrier with his right-front corner at the exit to turn 9 after a suspected power steering failure.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Practice
Said's teammate Kox made contact with the turn 14 wall and brought out the session's only red flag. In the final practice session, Caruso recorded the day's fastest lap time, a 1-minute and 11.6912 seconds, with 16 minutes left. Winterbottom, Reynolds, D'Alberto, Davison, Tim Slade, Moffat, Courtney and Lowndes completed the top ten ahead of Saturday's first qualifying session. Garth Tander caused the session's sole stoppage as he locked one of his front wheels and broke his car's left-front suspension over the 2 two kerbs. Jonathon Webb also broke his suspension at the same corner and abandoned his car at the side of the circuit two turns later.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Practice
After practice, several drivers including Winterbottom and Brabham called for the sensors on the kerbs to be removed because they argued that the presence of the higher kerb made them redundant, "What happens in the drivers' briefing is we all push for things but we don't always get what we are pushing for. There is a lot of outside influence in our sport from certain people who push for something else and shouldn't really be offering their opinion." Winterbottom stated. Courtney expressed his concern that the kerbing would cause tyres to delaminate that was observed in the 2011 event. The sensors were switched off before the first qualifying session on Friday night.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Qualifying and top ten shootout
Qualifying for Race 22 took place on Saturday morning and consisted of a half an hour session followed by an identically timed top ten shootout for the fastest ten qualifiers. Davison lapped fastest in the qualifying session at 1 minute, 11.3620 seconds. Whincup took second on his final lap of the session with Winterbottom third and Kelly fourth. Webb, Courtney, Caruso, d'Alberto, van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard were the final five drivers who advanced to the top ten shootout. Two red flags were necessitated for debris on the track and the third was needed to retrieve Moffat's car which stopped at turn 11 with a tailshaft failure. Tander ended his session early with a collision with the rear of David Wall's vehicle.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Qualifying and top ten shootout
The top ten shootout had each of the ten fastest drivers from the qualifying session complete one fast lap each, in reverse order of their qualifying positions. Whincup took his fifth pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute, 11.6478 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Davison whose time was 0.2252 seconds slower. Kelly qualified third, Caruso fourth and Webb fifth.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Qualifying and top ten shootout
Sixth-placed Winterbottom's lap was disrupted by the event's broadcaster Seven Network broadcasting on his radio by accident and believed that his race engineer Campbell Little had attempted to provide him with information before being informed that it was the commentary team. Coulthard, seventh, made contact with a wall. D'Alberto qualified eighth. Courtney in ninth had significant rear-brake locking and glanced the turn 11 barrier. Van Gisbergen in tenth lost time when an error put him onto the turn 11 escape road. Behind him, the rest of the grid lined up as Slade, Reynolds, Lowndes, Owen, Russell Ingall, Holdsworth, Moffat, Steven Johnson, Michael Patrizi, Ritter, Jason Bright, Greg Murphy, Karl Reindler, Tander, Blanchard, Douglas, Fiore and Wall.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
Weather conditions at the start of the race at 13:40 Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10:00) were dry, hot and clear with the air temperature at 30 °C (86 °F). Every car was started by its international co-driver. At the standing start, Hinchcliffe, partnering Caruso, made a slow getaway due to his stalling and Liuzzi rammed into his car's rear who in turn was hit by Pagenaud. Behind the pair, Taylor had no space to negotiate past and hit the front wheel of Pagenaud's vehicle at more than 100 km/h (62 mph).


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
Taylor was turned onto his roof and barrel rolled several times before finishing upside down. The race was suspended for half an hour while the track was cleared of debris and the stricken vehicles. Sarrazin, Heidfeld and Morbidelli began from the pit lane because of technical problems as a consequence of the original start. At the second start, Nicolas Minassian stalled his car and was missed by several drivers until he was collected by Franck Montagny at the rear. Montagny was hurled across the track and into a concrete barrier and the race was suspended for the second time.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
Another 20 minutes passed until a third start was attempted by series officials. Bourdais was slow off the line and Salo passed him for the lead into the first turn. Some drivers cut the corner to ensure that a multi-car accident would not occur. Graham Rahal also made a quick start and temporarily held second until Bourdais overtook him at the hairpin. On lap three, Power was passed by Heidfeld for third. Bourdais sought a way past Salo for the lead at turn one on the next lap but he backed out of the manoeuvre.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
That lap, Heidfeld got ahead of Braham for eighth as he continued to drive quickly and Lieb attacked Rahal for third. On lap 8, Wilson overtook his teammate Marco Andretti at turn one but Andretti challenged him at the fourth turn and was unsuccessful. The battle for third concluded on lap eleven as Lieb got past Rahal at turn four. On lap 13, Heidfeld overtook Lyons for seventh and Lyons immediately came under pressure from Brabham in eighth. As Bourdais gained on Salo for the lead, Morbidelli was hit by Campbell-Walter and crashed into the final corner wall three laps later, prompting the safety car's deployment.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
The race was restarted on lap 19 with Salo in the lead, Bourdais second and Lieb third. Turner challenged Rahal for fourth but backed out before the entrance to the beach chicane. That lap, Kox hit the fence at turn eleven and Andretti made contact with the right-front of his car which had ricocheted back onto the track. The crash caused the safety car's second deployment. Kox's car was removed by track marshals and Salo retained the lead for the restart at lap 23.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
On the next lap, Bourdais moved to the inside of Salo at turn one but ran wide through the run-off area at full speed. Bourdais was consequently required to cede the lead back to Salo. However, Bourdais did succeed on the inside line on run to the first corner but Salo retook first at turn four. This allowed Lieb to get involved in the battle for the lead as Salo struggled with acceleration leaving the slower speed corners. Salo got his tyres up to temperature and stabilised the gap from lap 27. On the 31st lap, di Grassi overtook Power at turn four for eighth. Bourdais went to the inside of Salo entering turn one but went straight on at the chicane and gave the position back.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
On the same lap, Turner was passed by Rahal at the beach chicane for fourth, but he cut the corner and had to cede the place to Turner. This provided Heidfeld with an opportunity to get ahead of Rahal and take over fifth. The first pit stops for fuel, tyres and driver changes began on the 35th lap with Bourdais stopping and was relieved by Whincup. Salo made his stop two laps later and gave the car to Davison. On lap 38, Whincup overtook Davison for the virtual lead.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
Two laps later, Davison's steering buckled and he crashed into the turn eleven tyre wall. Lowndes passed Kelly for eleventh on the road on the 42nd lap. Courtney short-cut the chicane during a battle with Webb for second place on lap 45 and got ahead of him at the twelfth corner for the position two laps later. Tander and Reynolds caught Courtney and Webb in the battle for second which had Tander unsuccessfully seeking his way past Webb at turn four on the 54th lap. The next lap, Courtney was overtaken by Webb to move into second at turn four. The third safety car was dispatched for debris on the track at the exit to turn eleven and Whincup's lead of six and a half seconds was reduced to nothing.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
Racing resumed on lap 59 with Whincup first and Webb second. Tander held off Reynolds at turn four and Kelly was passed by Winterbottom at the beach chicane. On lap 60, Slade was overtaken by Winterbottom at turn four. Winterbottom caught Reynolds and attempted to get ahead on the inside of turn four two laps later but Reynolds blocked the pass. He did succeed at the same corner on the 65th lap and he overtook Tander on the inside for fourth in the same area. Reynolds retired with steering damage from contact with Tander at turn eleven on lap 66.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Race
On lap 68, Winterbottom advanced to third as he got ahead of Courtney on the inside for turn four. Courtney lost fourth to Tander at the same corner for fourth six laps later and fell to fifth when Slade passed him. Webb drew closer to Whincup but could not pass him as the latter had better acceleration leaving the hairpin and Whincup crossed the start/finish line after 79 laps out of the scheduled 102 laps to claim his 60th career victory. Webb and Lieb finished second and Winterbottom and Power took third. The final finishers were Tander, Slade, Lowndes, Courtney, Kelly, Ingall, van Gisbergen, Patrizi, Bright, Murphy, Douglas, Wall, Johnson, Fiore and Davison.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
Whincup said he ensured that he did not push on his worn tyres and declared his and Bourdais's happiness over the victory, "It was a crazy start to the race and I am sure it made for good television. It really threw us back in pit lane and we had to work out what to do. Our strategy had to change with the race being shortened. It turned into a one-stop race and everyone was massively on their toes. I didn't have to do much and just sat back and watched it all unfold."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
Webb explained that it was difficult for him and his co-driver Lieb during the race but he praised his team and the speed of his car. Winterbottom said finishing third was not good enough to help him in the title contest, "You've just got to try and keep winning each race and if you can keep winning it puts pressure on them. Third was a really good effort from the dramas we had ... that could be as good as a win if it all falls into place for you (but) deep down you've got to beat him week-in, week-out. Otherwise it's going to come down to Homebush [final event] and the only way you can beat him is if he doesn't turn up."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
Regarding his first-lap accident, Taylor was unhurt and stated it was the first time in his career he had been turned upside down in a racing car, "I have never had as many cameras in my face either and unfortunately it is for all the wrong reasons. I feel very bad for the team because they have been so awesome all week.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
I didn't want it to end like this today – my job as a guest driver was to bring the car back in one piece and that didn't happen" Hinchcliffe explained he felt dizzy and the contact was one of the most hefty of his career, "I had a pretty good launch and then the thing just bogged. I saw cars going by and I was just starting to get the thing going again. Then I had this massive shunt in the rear. It is a tough break and it was a hard hit.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
I have backed an IndyCar into the wall on an oval and it wasn't quite that hard, but it was hard." Whincup defended the international co-drivers and said V8 Supercars are hard to start bur praised those beginning at the front despite their unfamiliarity, "Back in the pack that's what happens but that's part of the sport. I’m sure a lot of the guys after a lot of false starts today will have had a bit of practice and will be much better tomorrow."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
Tander was investigated for his contact with Reynolds that put the latter out of the event in the closing laps and he incurred a 25 championship points penalty from his season total after Tander admitted he was at fault to the stewards. He retained seventh in the points standings but was now 46 points behind sixth-placed Slade. Following the extensive amount of damage to the No. 3, 11 and 33 cars in the first two attempts to start the event, they were withdrawn from Race 23 as they could not be rebuilt in the Gold Coast.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 22, Post-race
The race result left Whincup with an increased Drivers' Championship lead of 209 points. Lowndes retained second but Winterbottom now tied him with the same number of points (2,713 points). Davison maintained fourth place with 2,353 points and van Gisbergen completed the top five with 2,098 points. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering still led with 5,660 points and Ford Performance Racing kept second with 5,006 points. Stone Brothers Racing similarly retained third with 3,727 points. Holden Racing Team (3,640 points) and Brad Jones Racing (3,051 points) rounded out the top five.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Qualifying
A single half hour qualifying session, held on Sunday morning, was used to determine the grid for Race 23. A tyre bundle was assembled beforehand to prevent drivers from short-cutting the chicane at turn one. Whincup took his second consecutive pole position and his sixth of the season with a time of 1 minute, 11.1077 seconds in the final five minutes of qualifying to repeat the achievement of clinching pole position for both Gold Coast races for the successive second year.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Qualifying
He was joined on the grid's front row by Winterbottom whose best lap time was 0.1455 seconds slower and he had the pole position until Whincup's lap. Webb qualified in third, Davison fourth and Kelly fifth. Courtney, Lowndes, Owen, Moffat and van Gisbergen completed the top ten qualifiers. Slade, Tander, Ingall, Johnson, Holdsworth, Bright, Reynolds, Wall, Fiore, Coulthard, Caruso, Patrizi, Blanchard, Murphy and Douglas rounded out the 25 starters.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Qualifying
The session was red flagged five times: the first three were to retrieve debris at the exit of turn 11 and the fourth was to replace a turn one tyre bundle that had been dislodged. The final stoppage was needed because Patrizi attempted to pass Bright on the inside line after Bright short-cutted the turn 11 chicane; Patrizi made heavy frontal contact with an outside concrete barrier at turn 12. After qualifying, the No. 91 Tekno Autosports car of Patrizi and di Grassi was withdrawn due to the large amount of structural damage to it.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
Race 23 started at 13:40 local time in clear and hot weather conditions of 30 °C (86 °F). As with the previous event, all of the international co-drivers began in their respective cars. At the start, Kox had a drive shaft failure and several cars narrowly avoided ramming into the rear of him as Bourdais maintained his pole position advantage to lead the field into the first corner. The safety car was dispatched at the end of the first lap to remove Kox's vehicle and it remained on the circuit until the conclusion of the next lap.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
Bourdais held the lead and had a healthy gap over Lieb and Power in second and third. On lap six, Turner made light contact with Rahal in turn four in his unsuccessful attempt to overtake him for seventh. Lyons put Salo under heavy pressure on the following lap due to a lack of rear tyre grip as Turner managed to pass Rahal to move into seventh. Heidfeld was hit by Sarrazin and spun at turn four on lap 11 but he continued without any clear damage to his vehicle. On lap 13, the safety car was deployed for a second time after Lyons dislodged the top of the tyre wall at turn one during a battle with Turner and Salo over fifth.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
Half of the field chose to make their compulsory pit stops for tyres under the safety car. Racing resumed at the start of lap 16 and Bourdais maintained the lead from Lieb and Power as the field drove through the first four turns without incident. On lap 17, Morbidelli spun on the exit to the beach chicane but he continued without any significant damage to his car despite some contact with the wall in the area.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
Sarrazin heavily hit the barrier at the same corner on the following lap and broke his upright rear suspension arm and had to retire his car. Upfront, Bourdais began to pull away from the remainder of the field with a series of fastest lap times in the next five laps to have a five-and-a-half-second advantage by the 25th lap. After his pit stop where he had to replace his front flat-spotted tyres due to brake problems, Salo returned to the top ten on lap 28.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
On the next lap, Said lost tenth to Briscoe as Power and then overtook Jeroen Bleekemolen for ninth as Power closed up to Lieb and got the gap down to a second. A third deployment of the safety car was necessitated on the 30th lap as a large chunk of concrete was observed lying in the centre of turn three.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
The race resumed on lap 33 as Bourdais continued to lead from Lieb and Power. That lap, Salo got ahead of Rahal to claim sixth at turn four and was followed by Briscoe doing the same to the latter. Green flag pit stops for fuel, tyres and driver changes began on the 34th lap. Bourdais made his stop two laps later and Whincup took over the No. 1 car. Salo took the lead as he could reach around lap 60 before making his own stop.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
In the meantime, Hinchcliffe and Caruso retired on lap 35 when their car had its right-rear wheel sheered as Caruso left the pit stall. On lap 46, Blanchard slid on the exit to the beach chicane but he avoided contact with the wall. Lowndes had a clutch hydraulic issue leaving the beach chicane dropping him behind Courtney for eleventh two laps later. Salo made his stop from the lead for replacement brake rotors on the 56th lap and was relieved by Davison. Brabham led until his lap 62 pit stop where Slade assumed his driving duties. Blanchard retired on lap 69 due to car damage. The safety car was dispatched for the fourth time as debris was observed on the track at turn 11 on lap 72 and Whincup took the opportunity to make a pit stop for fuel.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
The safety car was withdrawn at the end of the 74th lap and Slade led the field. Reynolds and Webb raced alongside each other into turn six during the next lap as Ingall defended from Winterbottom for fifth on lap 76. On the following lap, Winterbottom successfully passed Ingall for fifth on the back straight. Davison made contact with the rear of Slade's car as they battled for the lead through turn one on the 78th lap. On lap 80, Slade was passed on the inside by Davison for the lead entering turn four.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
That lap, Winterbottom overtook Tander to advance into fourth. Whincup went to the inside of Slade at turn four and the two were alongside each other driving towards the chicane and Whincup took second from Slade. Winterbottom then overtook Slade for third on lap 82. The fifth and final deployment of the safety car came on lap 94 after a car door mirror was located in turn eleven. On lap 95, racing continued as Davison was slow to restart and caught out Whincup which closed the field up.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
Winterbottom and Whincup made contact leaving turn 15 on the next lap and the former tried to attack the latter at turn eleven on lap 97 but was unsuccessful in overtaking. Whincup set the fastest lap of the race on lap 99 with a 1-minute and 12.3001 seconds time as he closed up to Davison. Courtney and Ingall made contact on the same lap, which forced Courtney into the pit lane to replace a front tyre because Ingall's exhaust cut it. He held the accolade until Webb bettered it on the next lap with a 1-minute and 12.2408 seconds effort.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Race
Davison led Whincup by half a second to begin the final lap and held him off to claim his 13th career victory. Whincup followed half a second later in second and Winterbottom duplicated his Race 22 result in third. Off the podium, Slade took fourth and Tander followed in fifth. Lowndes placed sixth, Ingall seventh and Holdsworth eighth. Van Gisbergen and Coulthard rounded out the top ten. The final classified finishers were Kelly, Johnson, Reynolds, Webb, Wall, Douglas, Courtney, Owen, Fiore and Murphy. Bourdais won the Dan Wheldon International Trophy as the highest-placed international co-driver for the second successive year.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
Davison said his team was under heavy pressure but praised Salo for helping contribute to his win, "It is fantastic to get another win as it feels like so long since my last one. I actually had to fight much harder than I thought as Tim [Slade] came out in front of me after the last stop which I hadn't thought of. Once I got past him I had to press on but also try and conserve my tyres which thankfully I had the car to do it with really easily."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
Whincup called his second-place finish "déjà vu" as he had duplicated his achievement of a victory and two pole positions in 2011 and thanked his co-driver Bourdais and his team, "The heat was on there at the end, I really enjoyed it. It was really on at that last restart. My tyres were pretty cold on those safety car laps but the car has been excellent and now we head into the last three events."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
Third-placed Winterbottom said an error in his pit stall cost him time and struggled to exit his box because of other cars around him, "We came out and tried as hard as we could but we used our rear tyres up a bit much getting back to the front. On the restart I tried to have a go at passing Jamie but he held his line and I couldn't do anymore from there."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
The incidents at the start of both races led to calls for the international co-drivers to be barred from starting races with Holdsworth saying, "That's what happens when all the international drivers start the race. It wasn't Simon's fault, he got a ripper start. But a few of the guys up the front got shockers as they are not used to starting these cars. Holdsworth's co-driver Pagenaud concurred and noted that standing starts was a procedure that many international co-drivers were unfamiliar with, "It's a shame but starting where we did got us into trouble."


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
Liuzzi spoke of his feeling that the narrowness of the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit configuration led to competitors making errors rather than their experience competing in V8 Supercars. Starting from the 2013 season, teams were no longer required to employ a co-driver from the international racing community but were allowed to partner with any co-driver from a national or international championship of their choosing. Slade stated that he was happy with his fourth-place finish and believed he was "the best of the rest" of all the drivers competing in the Gold Coast.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
The race results left Whincup as the Drivers' Championship leader with 3,060 points. Winterbottom (2,842 points) moved clear of Lowndes (2,815 points) in the battle for second place and Davison's victory kept him in fourth with 2,503 points. With 2,182 points, Van Gisbergen placed fifth overall. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Racing Engineering retained their lead with 5,900 points. Ford Performance Racing were in second with 5,285 points and Stone Brothers Racing were third with 3,901 points.


2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, Race 23, Post-race
Holden Brothers Racing stood in fourth with 3,805 points and Brad Jones Racing were fifth with 3,129 points with three rounds left in the season. Despite his victory, Davison said that he admitted his chances of winning the Drivers' Championship were marginal but he vowed to push hard and claim whatever points he could earn for the remainder of the season. A record-braking 182,255 people attended the two-day event.


2012 Army Black Knights football team
The 2012 Army Black Knights football team represented the United States Military Academy as an independent in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Black Knights were led by fourth-year head coach Rich Ellerson and played their home games at Michie Stadium. They finished the season 2–10.


2012 Arumeru East by-election
The Arumeru East by-election was a by-election held for the Tanzanian parliamentary constituency of Arumeru East. It was triggered by the death of Jeremiah Sumari, the previous Member of Parliament (MP) who had held the seat for the Chama Cha Mapinduzi since 2005. The by-election took place on 1 April 2012 and the Chadema candidate won by 54.92%.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla
The Liguilla (English: Playoffs) of the Apertura 2012 season was a final knockout tournament involving the top seven teams of the Ascenso MX league. The winner qualified to the playoff match against the Clausura 2013 winner. If the winner of both tournaments was the same team, the team would have been promoted to the 2013–14 Liga MX season without playing the Promotional Final.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Teams
The first team in the general table qualified for the semifinals. The six next best teams in the general table qualified to the quarterfinals.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Bracket
The six best teams after the first place played two games against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each match up was determined by aggregate score. If the teams were tied, the Away goals rule applied.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Bracket
The teams were seeded one to seven in quarterfinals, and were re-seeded one to four in semifinals depending on their position in the general table. The higher seeded teams played on their home field during the second leg.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Quarterfinals, Second leg
All game schedules are expressed in CST time, except where indicated.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Semifinals, Second leg
Round tied 3-3. Dorados advance to Final by the away goal rule


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Semifinals, Second leg
All game schedules are in CST time, except where indicated.


2012 Ascenso MX Apertura Liguilla, Final, Top goalscorers - Liguilla (Playoffs)
Last Updated on December 2, 2012. Players sorted first by goals scored, then by goal frequency (Minutes played/Goals scored).


2012 Ashbourne Cup
The 2012 Ashbourne Cup inter-collegiate camogie championship was staged at the Waterford IT sports complex in Carraiganore over the weekend of 18–19 February. It was won for the fourth time in succession by Waterford Institute of Technology, after defeating University of Limerick in the final by ten points after UL's semi-final victory over Waterford's opponents in the 2010 and 2011 finals. Player of the tournament was WIT's Katrina Parrock.


2012 Ashbourne Cup, The Final
The turning point in the final arrived midway through the second half when All Ireland medallist midfielder Katrina Parrock switched into full forward and made no scored a goal from close range. Kilkenny attacker Marie Dargan added a second goal three minutes later. Waterford IT then pulled away with four unanswered points. Their Waterford IT forward line consisted of five Kilkenny county players.


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Arrangements
The format was changed for the 2012 competition. In the final stages of the competition, six teams were divided into two groups of three in which each team plays two matches. The top two in each group went through to the cup semi finals while the bottom team in each group played in the final of the Ashbourne Shield. UL defeated University College Cork in the semi final by 0–10 to 1–5 and WIT defeated UCD 3–12 to 2–4. UUJ won the Ashbourne Shield defeating NUIG 2–13 to 3–9 with goals from Karen Kielt and Captain Sara Louise Carr.


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Purcell Cup
The Purcell Cup was also re-formatted to a six-team competition and won by Dublin City University for the first time. DCU beat NUIM 5–12 to 1–6 and defending Purcell Cup champions Queens University Belfast defeated Dublin Institute of Technology 4–9 to 0–4 in the semi-finals. Goals from Aoife Bugler, Catriona Regan, Orlaith Durkan and Emma Brennan the helped Dublin City University to a 4–7 to 0–4 victory over Queen's in the Purcell Cup final. In the Ashbourne Shield University of Ulster Jordanstown recorded a thrilling 2–13 to 3–9 win over National University of Ireland Galway. Denise Luby scored 3–4 as Cork Institute of Technology were 4–11 to 0–2 winners in the Purcell Shield final against Athlone IT.


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Fr Meachair Cup
Previously a sevens tournament, the Fr Meachair Cup was re-formatted as a third division inter-collegiate competition in 2012 and played in Waterford's De La Salle pitch over the Ashbourne weekend. Naomi Carroll scored ten points for Mary Immaculate College as they achieved a 0–15 to 0–3 win over St Patrick's College, Drumcondra in the Fr Meachair Cup final. In the Fr Meachair Cup semi-finals, St Patrick's College (2–8) defeated Trinity College (1–3) and Mary Immaculate College (3–10) defeated IT Carlow (0–4). St Mary's Belfast defeated IT Tralee 3–6 to 3–4 in the Fr Meachair Shield decider.


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Ó Mhaolagáin cup
Soaring star Áine Keogh helped Dundalk IT win the reinvented Ó Mhaolagáin cup defeating Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in the final. Limerick IT and Marino (who had Tara Ruttledge on their team) were the defeated semi-finalists. University of Ulster Coleraine  defeated Coláiste Froebel in the inaugural O’Mhaolagáin Shield final.


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Ashbourne All Stars
The Ashbourne All Stars were selected at the end of the tournament. Emma Staunton (UCD & Kilkenny), Ruth Jones (WIT & Kilkenny), Sarah Anne Fitzgerald (WIT & Laois), Shonagh Curran (UL & Waterford), Patricia Jackman (WIT & Waterford), Susan Vaughan (UL & Cork), Niamh O'Dea (UL & Cork), Lisa Bolger (UL & Wexford), Maria Walsh (UL & Cork), Joanne Casey (UCC & Cork) Sara Louise Carr (Jordanstown & Down), Denise Gaule (WIT & Kilkenny), Marie Dargan (WIT & Kilkenny), Katie Power (WIT & Kilkenny), Katrina Parrock (WIT & Wexford),


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Purcell All Stars
The Purcell All Stars were selected at the end of the tournament. Gráinne Smyth (DIT & Dublin), Rebecca Cleere (Maynooth) & Kilkenny), Lisa Carey (DCU & Kilkenny), Danielle McCrystal (QUB & Derry), Mairéad Power (DCU & Kilkenny), Emma Brennan (DCU & Carlow), Kristina Troy (Maynooth) & Meath), Katie Campbell (Mary I Limerick & Limerick), Laura Twomey (DCU & Dublin), Orlaith Walsh (St Pats, Drumcondra & Kilkenny), Sinéad Cassidy (QUB & Derry), Ciara Donnelly (QUB & Armagh), Orla Durkan (DCU & Dublin), Naomi Carroll (Mary I Limerick & Clare), Denise Luby (Cork IT & Cork)


2012 Ashbourne Cup, Fixtures and results, Ashbourne/Purcell Playoff
The play-off determined that Jordanstown would play in the Ashbourne Cup and Cork IT would play in the Purcell Cup.


2012 Asia Cup
The 2012 Asia Cup (also called Micromax Asia Cup) was an international cricket tournament held in Bangladesh from 11 to 22 March 2012. Like the previous event, the tournament featured the four Test-playing nations from Asia: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India entered the tournament as the defending 2010 Asia Cup Pakistan won the tournament by beating Bangladesh in the final by 2 runs.


2012 Asia Cup, Background
China was interested to host the Asia Cup at Guangzhou but it was decided by the Asian Cricket Council that Bangladesh will host the event. It was the third time Bangladesh hosted the event after 1988 and 2000.


2012 Asia Cup, Background
The event was supposed to be held between 1 and 11 March 2012, but was rescheduled to avoid conflicting with the ODI tri-series in Australia that also included Sri Lanka and India, which ended on 8 March. The tournament was played from 11 to 22 March.


2012 Asia Cup, Venues
All the 7 matches were played at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Mirpur.


2012 Asia Cup, Points table
If two or more teams have the same number of points, the right to play in the final is determined as follows:


2012 Asia Cup Final
The 2012 Asia Cup Final was the final of the 2012 Asia Cup, a One day International cricket tournament, and was played between Pakistan and Bangladesh on 22 March 2012 in Dhaka. Pakistan stunned Bangladesh in the last ball thriller to achieve their second Asia Cup title after 2000.


2012 Asia Cup Final, Background
The 2012 Asia Cup started on 11 March 2012 and was hosted by Bangladesh. All matches were played at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Four full member national teams played each other in  Round-robin format. Pakistan reached the final by defeating Bangladesh and Sri Lanka while Bangladesh reached the final defeating India and Sri Lanka.


2012 Asia Cup Final, Scorecard, 1st innings
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Jamshed, 4.2 overs), 2-19 (Younis, 5.2 overs), 3-55 (Mishbah, 15.2 overs), 4-70 (Hafeez, 21.2 overs), 5-129 (Azam, 33.3 overs), 6-133 (Umar, 34.5 overs), 7-178 (Afridi, 41.3 overs), 8-199 (Gul, 44.3 overs), 9-206 (Ajmal 45.6 overs)


2012 Asia Cup Final, Scorecard, 2nd innings
Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Nazimuddin, 16.4 overs), 2-68 (Jahurul, 17.5 overs), 3-81 (Tamim, 23.1 overs), 4-170 (Nasir, 42.3 overs), 5-179 (Shakib, 43.4 overs), 6-190 (Rahim, 45.1 overs), 7-218 (Mortaza, 47.4 overs), 8-233 (Razzak, 49.5)


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style)
The 2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup was the second edition of the circle style Asia Kabaddi Cup. It was played in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan from 1 to 5 November 2012 with teams from 6 Asian countries. It was won by Pakistan who won the competition by technical rule as India decided to walk out of the match. India forfeited the match with 6 minutes remaining in the final game claiming that the officials were unfair to them. Things worsened further when Indian coach Goormel Singh was shown a green card by the referee for his 'constant interference in field matters'. He was said to have crossed the line literally, entering the field of play when he shouldn't have. This gave rise to heated arguments between the two teams and the scene ended with India walking out in protest.


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style), Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was held at Punjab Stadium in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan on November 1, 2012, and aired live on Geo Super.


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style), Prize money
The organizers allocated a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 million (US$15,790) for the winners while the runners-up and third positioned teams were awarded cash prizes of US$10,526 and US$5,263, respectively.


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style), Schedule
All matches' timings were according to Indian Standard Time (UTC +5:30).


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style), Schedule, Round Robin
Pakistan 46 Vs. Sri. Lanka 26 /India 53 Vs. Iran 35 /Afghanistan 53 Vs. Nepal 32


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style), Schedule, Round Robin
Iran 72 Vs. Nepal 27 /Sri Lanka 51 Vs. Afghanistan 42 /India 31 Vs Pakistan 40


2012 Asia Kabaddi Cup (Circle style), Schedule, Round Robin
1- Pakistan 2- India 3- Iran and Sri Lanka 5- Afghanistan 6- Nepal


2012 Asia Series
The 2012 Asia Series was the sixth time the Asia Series was held. The tournament was held in Busan, South Korea, and began on 8 November 2012 with the Final held on 12 November.


2012 Asia Series
The tournament included six teams, a two team increase from the previous tournament. As has been the case in previous tournaments, the winners of NPB's 2012 Japan Series, Korea Baseball Organization's (KBO) 2012 Korean Series, Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL) 2012 Taiwan Series and the Australian Baseball League's 2012 Championship Series qualified. The China Baseball League (CBL) returned to the Asia Series, with the 2012 Champion representing the country, and the host team, Busan's Lotte Giants, also participated in the tournament.


2012 Asia Series, Format
The six teams are placed in two groups of three (see below), with each team playing two games - one against each other member of their group. The team with the best record in each group will advance to the Final.


2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
The 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship is contested by a combination of regulations with Group N competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points. Australian driver Chris Atkinson won the championship he narrowly lost the previous year, beating the Proton R3 Rally Team he raced for in 2011.


2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
His Škoda Fabia won the Rally of Whangarei as well as his home event the International Rally of Queensland as well as finishing second in New Caledonia, Malaysia and China, building up a lead his 2011 teammate and defending champion Alister McRae could not catch once his Proton Satria Neo started winning at the Malaysian Rally and the season ending China Rally. The only other rally winners were Indian Skoda driver Gaurav Gill at the Rallye de Nouvelle Calédonie and Malaysian Proton driver Karamjit Singh. Super 2000 cars dominated results with only New Zealand driver Brian Green finishing in the top three at any event in a Group N car.


2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Selected entries
The following teams and drivers represent the major entries participating in the 2012 season:


2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Championship standings
Note: 1 – 12 refers to the bonus points awarded for each leg of the rally for the first five place getters, 1st (7), 2nd (5), 3rd (3), 4th (2), 5th (1). There are two bonus legs for each rally.


2012 Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships
The 2012 Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships were the 3rd edition of the Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships, and were held in Palembang Sport and Convention Center, Palembang, Indonesia from October 18 to October 19, 2012.


2012 Asian Airgun Championships
The 2012 Asian Air Gun Championships were held in Nanchang, China between December 12 and December 18, 2012.


2012 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 2012 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships were the 5th edition of the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and were held in Putian, China from November 11 to November 14, 2012.


2012 Asian Baseball Championship
The 2012 Asian Baseball Championship was an international baseball competition held in Taiwan from November 28 to December 2, 2012. It was the 26th edition of the tournament. Qualification did not begin until after the completion of the 2012 London Olympics.


2012 Asian Beach Games
The third Asian Beach Games were held in Haiyang, China in 2012.


2012 Asian Beach Games, Participating nations
43 out of 45 Asian countries participated in these games. The only exception being North Korea and Myanmar. They only participated in opening ceremony. According to the Games' official website, Kuwaiti athletes participated the Games under the Olympic flag because the Kuwait Olympic Committee was suspended due to political interference in January 2010.


2012 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships
The 2012 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship was a beach volleyball event, that was held from November 1 to 4, 2012 in Haikou, China.


2012 Asian Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament
The 2012 Asian Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament was held in Astana, Kazakhstan from April 5 to April 12.


2012 Asian Challenge Cup
The 2012 Asian Challenge Cup (Chinese: 亞洲超級球會挑戰盃2012), also known as the Nikon Asian Challenge Cup 2012, is the annual football event held in Hong Kong during Lunar New Year. The name of this event was changed from the Lunar New Year Cup to the Asian Challenge Cup in 2011.


2012 Asian Championship of Ski Mountaineering
The 2012 Asian Championship of Ski Mountaineering (Korean: 아시아 산악스키 선수권대회) was the third edition of an Asian Championship of Ski Mountaineering, and the second official sanctioned by the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF),


2012 Asian Championship of Ski Mountaineering
The event was organized by the Korea Alpine Federation, and was held at the South Korean Yongpyong Ski Resort in the Gangwon Province from February 18 to 19, 2012.


2012 Asian Championship of Ski Mountaineering, Results
Event was held on April February 19, 2012. It was only an individual race offered as at the 2007 edition. Like the European Championship of 2012 the Asian championship did not follow the previous edition in the typical biannual rhythm because the World Championship, which was originally planned for 2012, was moved to the year 2011.


2012 Asian Cross Country Championships
The 11th Asian Cross Country Championships took place on March 24, 2012 in Qingzhen, China. Team rankings were decided by a combination of each nation's top three athletes finishing positions. The same city went on to hold the 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships three years later.


2012 Asian Cycling Championships
The 2012 Asian Cycling Championships took place at the Cheras Velodrome in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 8 to 18 February 2012.


2012 Asian Development Tour
The 2012 Asian Development Tour was the third season of the Asian Development Tour, a second-tier tour operated by the Asian Tour.


2012 Asian Development Tour, Order of Merit
The top three players on the Order of Merit earned Asian Tour cards for 2013.


2012 Asian Fencing Championships
The 2012 Asian Fencing Championships was held in Wakayama, Japan from 22 April to 27 April 2012.


2012 Asian Five Nations
For the divisional competitions, see: 2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments


2012 Asian Five Nations
The 2012 Asian Five Nations, known as the 2012 HSBC Asian 5 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the HSBC, was the 5th series of the Asian Five Nations rugby union tournament.


2012 Asian Five Nations
Japan secured their 5th Asian Five Nations title, 20th overall Asian title, winning all four of their games.


2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments
For main Top 5 Division, see: 2012 Asian Five Nations


2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments
The 2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments, known as the 2012 HSBC Asian 5 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the HSBC, refer to the divisions played within the tournament. This was the 5th series of the Asian Five Nations.


2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments
There were five divisions in the 2012 version who contested for a place in the Top 5 tournament. Who ever finished last place in a division was relegated, while the winner of a division was promoted. Last place in division 1 was replaced by the winner of division 2, winner of division 3 replaced last place in division 2, winner in division 4 replaced last in division 3 and winner in division 5 replaced last in division 4.


2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments, Teams
The teams involved, with their world rankings pre tournament, were:


2012 Asian Five Nations division tournaments, Division 1
For the first time, division one was held in a round-robin format. All games were played in Manila, Philippines on April 14–21, 2012. The Philippines was promoted to the main division in 2013, while Singapore was relegated to division II for 2013.


2012 Asian Girls' U17 Volleyball Championship
The 2012 Asian Youth Girls Volleyball Championship was held in Shuangliu County, Chengdu, China. Japan won the tournament and Sarina Koga was selected the Most Valuable Player.


2012 Asian Girls' U17 Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
The teams are seeded based on their final ranking at the 2010 Asian Youth Girls Volleyball Championship.


2012 Asian Girls' U17 Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
China (Host & 2nd) Malaysia (8th) * Hong Kong Vietnam


2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
The 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the fifth edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Vocational and Technical College Athletics Hall in Hangzhou, China, between 18 and 19 February. A total of 26 nations sent athletes to compete at the championships, which featured 25 track and field events.


2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
China topped the medal table with 14 golds. Iran was second with three golds while Bahrain finished third with three golds.


2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
The competition featured two Asian indoor records. Mutaz Essa Barshim broke the men's high jump record with a clearance of 2.37 m, bettering Zhu Jianhua's 26-year-ol standard. Li Ling beat the women's Asian indoor record in the pole vault with a mark of 4.50 m.


2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, Participating nations
A total of 26 nations were represented by athletes competing at the 2012 championships


2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships – Results
These are the official results of the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships which took place on 18–19 February 2012 in Hangzhou, China.


2012 Asian Judo Championships
The 2012 Asian Judo Championships were the 19th edition of the Asian Judo Championships, and were held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from April 27 to April 29, 2012.


2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships
The 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships was the 15th edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organised by the Asian Athletics Association. It took place from 9 to 12 June at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka – the same venue hosted the 2002 Asian Athletics Championships. Thirty-four nations took part in the event and over five hundred athletes participated. A total of 44 events were contested, with the events being evenly split between the genders.


2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships
The Chinese team topped the medal table with fifteen gold medals and a total of 23 medals. Chinese Taipei (Republic of China) had the second greatest number of event wins with six gold medals out of fifteen medals, while Japan had the second greatest haul with a total of 22 medals. India, Thailand and Qatar each won four gold medals and the hosts Sri Lanka won six medals during the four-day competition. Eighteen nations reached the medal table.


2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships
Qatar's Ashraf Amgad Elseify gave the stand-out performance of the championships with his Asian junior record in the men's hammer throw. Six other championship records were broken: Chinese pole vaulters Zhang Wei and Xu Huiqin bettered the men's and women's standards, Japan's Haruka Kyuma ran a 5000 m women's record, and Li Ting-Yu representing Chinese Taipei improved the women's steeplechase record. The two other records were set by Hamza Driouch and Teng Haining, who were the top two in the men's middle-distance events – Teng took the 800 metres while Driouch won the 1500 metres. Two athletes completed event doubles: Chen Mudan won both the women's horizontal jumps and Rahul Kumar Pal of India took both the men's long-distance events. Muamer Aissa Barshim of Qatar succeeded his brother, Mutaz Essa Barshim, as the Asian junior high jump champion.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships
The 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships is an Asia continental junior championships to crown the best U-19 badminton players across Asia. It was held in Gimcheon Indoor Stadium, Gimcheon, South Korea from June 30 to July 7, 2012.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships, Tournament
The 2013 Asian Junior Badminton Championships organized by the Gyeongbuk Badminton Association, Badminton Korea Association, and Badminton Asia Confederation. The motto of this tournament is "Peace of Asia through shuttlecock". This tournament consists of mixed team competition, which was held from  30 June–3 July, as well as five individual events started from 3–7 July. More than 250 athletes from 20 countries participated in this tournament.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships, Tournament, Venue
This tournament was held at Gimcheon Indoor Stadium in Gimcheon, Gyeongbuk, South Korea.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships, Medalists
In the mixed team event, Japan claim the title for the first time after defeat China with the score 3–0. In the individuals event, South Korea ensure two titles after won the mixed and girls' doubles event. Japan, India, and Indonesia seize a title by winning the boys' singles, girls' singles and boys' doubles events respectively.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships – Boys doubles
The Boys' Doubles tournament of the 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships was held from July 3–7 in Gimcheon, South Korea. The defending champion of the last edition were Lin Chia-yu and Huang Po-jui from Chinese Taipei. The bronze medals goes to the first seeded Lee Chun Hei / Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong and unseeded players Alfian Eko Prasetya / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia, after defeated in the semifinals round. Another Indonesian pair Arya Maulana Aldiartama / Edi Subaktiar emerged as the champion after beat Wang Chi-lin / Wu Hsiao-lin of Chinese Taipei in the finals with the score 17–21, 22–20, 21–10.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships – Boys singles
The Boys' Singles tournament of the 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships was held from July 3–7 in Gimcheon, South Korea. The defending champion of the last edition was Zulfadli Zulkiffli from Malaysia. The top seeded Sameer Verma of India had lost in the semifinals to third seeded Kento Momota of Japan, while the second seeded Shesar Hiren Rhustavito from Indonesia, lost to Yuki Kaneko of Japan in fourth round. Momota finally emerged as the champion after beat Malaysian player Soong Joo Ven in the finals with the score 21–13, 22–20.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships – Girls doubles
The Girls' Doubles tournament of the 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships was held from July 3–7 in Gimcheon, South Korea. The gold medalist in the last edition were Suci Rizki Andini and Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah from Indonesia. Malaysian pair Chow Mei Kuan / Lee Meng Yean No. 3 seeded and unseeded players Chen Qingchen / He Jiaxin of China finished in the semifinals round, settle for the bronze medal. The top seeded Lee So-hee / Shin Seung-chan of South Korea emerged as the champion after beat Huang Yaqiong / Yu Xiaohan of China in the finals with the score 17–21, 21–15, 21–17.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships – Girls singles
The Girls' Singles tournament of the 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships was held from July 3–7 in Gimcheon, South Korea. The defending champion of the last edition was Sun Yu from China. The first seeded Pusarla Venkata Sindhu of India emerged as the champion after beat the second seeded Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the finals with the score 18–21, 21–17, 22–20.


2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships – Mixed doubles
The Mixed Doubles tournament of the 2012 Asian Junior Badminton Championships was held from July 3–7 in Gimcheon, South Korea. The gold medalist in the last edition were Lukhi Apri Nugroho and Ririn Amelia from Indonesia. The top seeded Edi Subaktiar / Melati Daeva Oktaviani from Indonesia beaten by Chinese pair, eventual silver medalist Wang Yilu / Huang Dongping in the quarterfinals round. Vietnamese and Chinese pairs Do Tuan Duc / Le Thu Huyen and Liu Yuchen / Chen Qingchen finished in the semifinals round, settle for the bronze medal. Host players, the second seeded Choi Sol-gyu / Chae Yoo-jung emerged as the champion after beat Wang / Huang of China in the finals with the rubber games 17–21, 25–23, 23–21.


2012 Asian Junior Men's Volleyball Championship
The 2012 Asian Junior Men's Volleyball Championship was held in Urmia, Iran.


2012 Asian Junior Men's Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
The teams are seeded based on their final ranking at the 2010 Asian Junior Men's Volleyball Championship.


2012 Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship
The 2012 Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship was held in Nakhon Pathom and Ratchaburi, Thailand from  1 – 9 October 2012.


2012 Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
The teams are seeded based on their final ranking at the 2010 Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship.


2012 Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
Thailand (Host & 4th) Iran (9th) New Zealand Turkmenistan * Kuwait


2012 Asian Junior Women's Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
* Malaysia withdrew, Turkmenistan replaced Malaysia in Pool D to balance the number of teams in each group.


2012 Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships
The Huangtu Grapes cup 2012 18th Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships were held in Jiangyin, China, from  11 ‐ 16 July 2012. It was organised by the Chinese Table Tennis Association under the authority of the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU).


2012 Asian Karate Championships
The 2012 Asian Karate Championships are the 11th edition of the Senior Asian Karate Championships and 12th edition of the Cadet, Junior & U21 Asian Karate Championships and were held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from July 14 to July 17, 2012.


2012 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship
The 2012 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship was the 13th staging of the AVC Club Championships. The tournament was held in Shanghai, China.


2012 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
The teams are seeded based on their final ranking at the 2011 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship.


2012 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship, Pools composition
China (Host & 3rd) Vietnam (8th) Afghanistan United Arab Emirates *


2012 Asian Men's Handball Championship
The 2012 Asian Men's Handball Championship was the 15th edition of the Asian Men's Handball Championship, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 26 January to 5 February 2012. It acted as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship in Spain.


2012 Asian Men's Junior Handball Championship
The 2012 Asian Men's Junior Handball Championship (13th tournament) took place in Doha from June 30 – July 13. It acted as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2013 Men's Junior World Handball Championship.