Suzuka 430km race in 1991

First race victory for the Peugeot 905 , on the picture the unusual car of Keke Rosberg and Yannick Dalmas

The 1991 Suzuka 430 km race , also known as the FIA SWC - Fuji Film Cup, Suzuka Circuit , took place on April 14th at the Suzuka International Racing Course . The race was the first round of the sports car world championship this year.

The race

In 1991 the distance of the world championship races was adjusted again and shortened by 50 kilometers. Bernie Ecclestone had taken over the event and marketing rights for the racing series and wanted to adapt the driving time of the races to that of the Formula 1 World Championship in order to achieve short transmission times for television stations .

The first full racing season with the Peugeot 905 began for the Peugeot racing team in Suzuka . After the first outings in the final races of the 1990 season , the cars were prepared for racing in extensive test drives on the Circuit Paul Ricard . Also Sauber took the Mercedes-Benz C11 and the new C291 thousands of test kilometers on the southern French racetrack. The Jaguar XJR-14 with the 3.5-liter Ford HB engine from the Benetton B190 made its racing debut in Suzuka . The only Japanese starters were the Mazda 787B from Mazdapeed.

Driver world champion Mauro Baldi had left Sauber and now formed a team with Philippe Alliot at Peugeot . Keke Rosberg and Yannick Dalmas drove the second 905 . Last year's second world champion, Jean-Louis Schlesser , competed in the C11 together with Jochen Mass . The two young drivers Karl Wendlinger and Michael Schumacher were used in the C291 . In the Jaguar team led by Tom Walkinshaw , the three drivers Derek Warwick , Martin Brundle and Teo Fabi shared two XJR-14s.

The Jaguars, who were fast in practice, quickly ran into problems in the race. Martin Brundle had to park the XJR-14 with the number 4 after four laps with an electrical damage at the edge of the track. The starter motor of the second Jaguar had to be replaced. Although the car crossed the finish line, it was not scored due to the lack of distance covered. The Wendlinger and Schumacher C291 had to be parked during a pit stop after a car fire. The Peugeot 905 from Rosberg and Dalmas had an engine failure. The race ended with a surprising Peugeot success that the team management did not expect. But the lead of almost two laps over the Mercedes from Schlesser and Mass made it possible for Philippe Alliot to significantly reduce the race pace in the last third of the race in order to protect the engine.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	Cat. 1	5	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Mauro Baldi Philippe Alliot	Peugeot 905	74
2	Cat. 2	1	Team Sauber Mercedes	Jean-Louis Schlesser Jochen Mass	Mercedes-Benz C11	73
3	Cat. 2	11	Porsche Kremer Racing	Manuel Reuter Harri Toivonen	Porsche 962 CK6	72
4th	Cat. 1	8th	Euro Racing	Cor Euser Charles Zwolsman senior	Spice SE90C	72
5	Cat. 2	12	Courage Compétition	George Fouché Steven Andskär	Porsche 962C	71
6th	Cat. 2	18th	Mazdaspeed	Dave Kennedy Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda 787B	71
7th	Cat. 2	17th	Repsol Brun Motorsport	Massimo Sigala Jesús Pareja	Porsche 962C	70
8th	Cat. 2	13	Courage Compétition	Paolo Barilla Eje Elgh	Porsche 962C GTi	66
9	Cat. 2	14th	Team Salamin Primagaz	Max Cohen-Olivar Antoine Salamin	Porsche 962C	66
Not classified
10	Cat. 1	3	Silk Cut Jaguar	Derek Warwick	Jaguar XJR-14	64
11	Cat. 2	58	Mazdaspeed	Takashi Yorino Yōjirō Terada	Mazda 787	64
Disqualified
12	Cat. 2	16	Repsol Brun Motorsport	Oscar Larrauri	Porsche 962C	71
Failed
13	Cat. 1	6th	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Keke Rosberg Yannick Dalmas	Peugeot 905	36
14th	Cat. 1	2	Team Sauber Mercedes	Karl Wendlinger Michael Schumacher	Mercedes-Benz C291	21st
15th	Cat. 1	4th	Silk Cut Jaguar	Martin Brundle Teo Fabi	Jaguar XJR-14	4th
Not started
16	Cat. 1	5T	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Mauro Baldi Philippe Alliot Keke Rosberg	Peugeot 905	1
17th	Cat. 1	8T	Euro Racing	Charles Zwolsman senior	Spice SE90C	2
18th	Cat. 2	1T	Team Sauber Mercedes		Mercedes-Benz C11	3
Not qualified
19th	Cat. 1	7th	Louis Descartes	Philippe de Henning	ALD C91	4th
20th	Cat. 2	15th	Veneto Equipe SRL	Andrea Filippini Marco Brand	Lancia LC2	5

¹ Replacement car ² Replacement car ³ Replacement car ⁴ Technical defect during qualification training ⁵ Accident during qualification training

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
21st	Cat. 2	19th	Team Davey	Desiré Wilson Tim Lee-Davey	Porsche 962C
22nd	Cat. 2	20th	Team Davey	Beppe Gabbiani Claudio Langes	Porsche 962C

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Cat. 1	Mauro Baldi	Philippe Alliot	Peugeot 905 Evo 1 bis	Overall victory
Cat. 2	Jean-Louis Schlesser	Jochen Mass	Mercedes-Benz C11	Rank 2

Racing data

• Registered: 22
• Started: 15
• Rated: 9
• Race classes: 2
• Spectators: 45,000
• Race day weather: sunny, cold and dry
• Route length: 5.859 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 2: 25: 01.688 hours
• Overall laps of the winning team: 72
• Total distance of the winning team: 433.640 km
• Winner's average: 176.031 km / h
• Pole position: Martin Brundle - Jaguar XJR-14 (# 3) - 1: 48.084 = 195.148 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Derek Warwick - Jaguar XJR-14 (# 3) - 1: 49.148 = 193.246 km / h
• Racing series: 1st round of the 1991 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Race report
• Race results

Previous race 480 km Mexico race 1990

Sports car world championship

Succession race 430-km race at Monza in 1991