2012 Karjala Grand Prix

The 2012 Karjala Grand Prix was the the 7th race of the 2012 TM Master Cup season. It was held at the Karjala Raceway in Finland.

The race was the 36th-annual running of the event.

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Full-time teams struggle in pole qualifying
Pole qualifying saw the two Manticore Engineering cars of Alexis Rainsford and Erik Bohlender sweep the front row, with Rainsford demolishing the prior track record with a time of 1:31.642. Luciano Soveral was sitting in third with 90 seconds left in the initial pole qualifying session, but three drivers in succession bumped Soveral out of the top five. Of the top ten starters (see Qualifying results, below), none are series regulars, however; the third cars of FLASH Racing (the No. 04 of Juho Kivela) and Gessler Richter MC Team (the No. 90 of Brian Sendack) did make the top ten and will avoid the qualifying races.

The struggles of the full-time teams did not concern TM chairman Terry Schoffner. "I think some people just forgot that this is a sport. Let the good people do well and send everyone who can't cut it home." he said. "It's certainly done miracles for ticket sales. It's good to see that these small teams are competitive here."

However, officials from both Team Saar USA, Xenos Racing, and Majestic Motorsports were not in agreement. "It's not good for Gasnier's interest in the series that there are only three of our cars and so many cars nobody's heard of before." a Majestic Motorsports spokesman said. "The TM Master Cup Series may need the local teams to be competitive, but it must also allow manufacturers to be competitive as well."

Manticore, RUS Autosport teams protested
The Manticore M1A1s run by Manticore Engineering and the Omecha MA03Rs run by RUS Autosport have been protested by many of the teams currently running the entire TM Master Cup Series schedule. The Manticore cars, which supposedly are a hybrid of the Calton-Morel Altair and the Omecha MA03, have been accused of being illegal all week.

"Manticore is three miles per hour faster than everyone else in the speed trap." Mike Rossiter, owner of BlackDiamond Racing said to the press. "I think Alan Hodges, Carl Walter, and John Calton have gotten real good at pulling something on everyone with that whole effort. You can't tell me that they're not bankrolling that team."

Rainsford, the defending Karjala Grand Prix winner, said to the press that the Manticore cars were not running a qualifying setup as most of the other teams had done. Rainsford has been driving in Champ Car since the middle of last year, and this is her first run in a TM Master Cup Series car this year. True to form, Rainsford was also very scathing towards the criticism leveled at her and the team.

"We haven't done anything that anyone else hasn't already gotten away with without penalty. It's that simple." Rainsford said. "If this car is illegal then so is every Saar made since 2005."

Interestingly, the Manticore M1A1 was designed by a few ex-Saar people, notable among them was renowned fabricator Jim Steiner, who helped design cars for Team Saar USA from 2004 until the end of 2010.

RUS Autosport's cars, based on the Omecha MA03, have had a design remarkably similar to the Saar Eagle. Reports are that a RUS Autosport team member photographed the Eagle and that the team attempted to re-create what the picture showed. Such a practice is not uncommon in other forms of motorsport, and has been done in Formula A and in Champ Car since the 1970s.

"We would be happy to sell them a Saar Eagle and let them run it for less than it would cost them to build that car, but it's unfortunate that both Saar and RUS Autosport can't have a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm sure that the fans of RUS Autosport would be pleased for them to have some solid funding." Team Saar USA owner Peter Keyes said. "They wouldn't have had to go through the effort of making that car if the rules weren't insane."

Qualifying races
Like in previous seasons, a number of qualifying races were held to set the balance of the field for the Grand Prix.


 * For the results of the qualifying races, please see 2012 Karjala Grand Prix qualifying races.

Summary
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Points
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Penalties
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