1979 World Championship for Makes

The 1979 World Sportscar Championship season was the 27th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship for Makes which was open to Group 1 and 2 Touring Cars, Group 3 and 4 Grand Touring cars, and Group 5 Special Production Cars. The championship ran from 3 February to 16 September 1979 and consisted of nine rounds. It was contested in two engine capacity divisions, Over 2 Litres and Under 2 Litres.

The Over 2 Litres Division was won by Porsche and the Under 2 Litres Division by Lancia.

Schedule

[edit]
Lancia won the Under 2 Litres Division with the Beta Montecarlo.
Rnd Race Circuit Date
1 United States 24 Hour Pepsi Challenge Daytona International Speedway 3 February
4 February
2 Italy 6 Hours of Mugello Mugello Circuit 18 March
3 France Dijon 6 Hours Dijon-Prenois 22 April
4 United Kingdom Rivet Supply 6 Hours Silverstone Circuit 6 May
5 Germany 1000km Nürburgring Nürburgring 3 June
6 Italy Coppa Florio Autodromo di Pergusa 24 June
7 United States Watkins Glen 6 Hours Watkins Glen International 8 July
8 United Kingdom Rivet Supply 6 Hours Brands Hatch 5 August
9 Italy Trofeo Ignazio Giunti (6 Hours) Vallelunga 16 September

Season results

[edit]
Rnd Circuit Over 2.0 Winning Team Under 2.0 Winning Team Results
Over 2.0 Winning Drivers Under 2.0 Winning Drivers
Over 2.0 Winning Car [1] Under 2.0 Winning Car [1]
1 Daytona United States #0 Interscope Racing None Results
United States Ted Field
United States Danny Ongais
United States Hurley Haywood
Germany Porsche 935/79
2 Mugello Germany #12 Gelo Racing Team None Results
France Bob Wollek
Liechtenstein Manfred Schurti
United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick
Germany Porsche 935/77
3 Dijon Germany #31 Gelo Racing Team None Results
France Bob Wollek
Liechtenstein Manfred Schurti
Belgium Jacky Ickx
Germany Porsche 935/77
4 Silverstone Germany #3 Gelo Sportswear None Results
France Bob Wollek
Germany Hans Heyer
United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick
Germany Porsche 935/77
5 Nürburgring Germany #6 Gelo Racing Team Germany #25 Jägermeister Results
France Bob Wollek
Liechtenstein Manfred Schurti
United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick
Germany Eckhard Schrimpf
Germany Hans-Georg Bürger
Germany Porsche 935/77 Germany BMW 320i
6 Pergusa Switzerland #4 Lubrifilm Racing Italy #11 Lancia Corse Results
Switzerland Angelo Pallavicini
Switzerland Marco Vanoli
Italy Riccardo Patrese
Italy Carlo Facetti
Germany Porsche Carrera RSR Italy Lancia Beta Montecarlo
7 Watkins Glen United States #94 Whittington/Kremer None Results
United States Don Whittington
United States Bill Whittington
Germany Klaus Ludwig
Germany Porsche 935 K3
8 Brands Hatch Germany #27 Porsche Kremer Racing Italy #31 ASA Corse Results
Germany Klaus Ludwig
Germany Axel Plankenhorn
Italy Riccardo Patrese
Germany Walter Röhrl
Germany Porsche 935 K3 Italy Lancia Beta Montecarlo
9 Vallelunga Switzerland #54 Ecurie Biennoise Italy #33 Giuseppi Piazzi Results
Switzerland Enzo Calderari
Switzerland Willi Spavetti
Switzerland Rolf Moritz
Italy Giuseppi Piazzi
Italy Renzo Zorzi
Italy Stanislao Sterzel
Germany Porsche Carrera RSR Italy Fiat X1/9

Note: Entries which were not eligible to score championship points are not accounted for in the above table.

Manufacturers' championship

[edit]

Points were awarded for placings gained by the top ten cars in each division at each round in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. However, points were only awarded for the highest placed car from each make in each division and any other cars from that make were merely skipped in the points allocation.

Only the best seven round results for each make in each division counted towards the championship with any other points earned not included in the final totals. Relinquished points are shown within brackets.

Some rounds were also open to cars from other categories (e.g. Group 6 "Two Seater Racing Cars") however these cars were not eligible to score points for their respective makes.

Division - Over 2 Litre

[edit]
Pos [2] Make Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Total
1 Germany Porsche 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 (20) (20) 140
2 Italy Ferrari 15 15 30
3 Italy de Tomaso 6 6
4 United Kingdom Triumph 4 4
5 Germany BMW 1 1

Division - Under 2 Litre

[edit]
Pos [3] Make Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Total
1 Italy Lancia 10 20 20 50
2 Germany BMW 20 12 32
3 United States Ford 15 15 30
Germany Porsche 15 15 30
5 Italy Fiat 20 20
6 Germany Volkswagen 6 6
7 Germany Audi 2 2

The cars

[edit]

The following models contributed to the nett points totals scored by their respective makes.

Division - Over 2 Litre

[edit]

Division - Under 2 Litre

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b World Championship 1979, www.classicscars.com Retrieved 20 March 2020
  2. ^ FIA Yearbook, 1980, grey section, page 85
  3. ^ FIA Yearbook, 1980, grey section, page 86

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]