Vallelunga 6-hour race in 1973

The Autodromo Vallelunga

The 6-hour race of Vallelunga 1973 , also 6 Ore di Vallelunga, Vallelunga , took place on March 25th at the Autodromo Vallelunga and was the second round of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

In 1973 the first race of the sports car world championship took place at the Autodromo Vallelunga. The racetrack, which opened in 1951, was 3.206 kilometers long in 1973. The race in Vallelunga in 1973 was the second world championship run. The season started in February with the Daytona 24-hour race . The race was won by Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood in the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR in front of the Ferrari 365 GTB / 4 Competizione driven by François Migault and Milt Minter .

Of the nine chassis of the Ferrari 312PB , three were sold to collectors at the end of 1972 who were ordered not to use the vehicles in races. For the race in Vallelunga, Scuderia Ferrari registered three cars that were driven by the teams Tim Schenken / Carlos Reutemann , Jacky Ickx / Brian Redman and Arturo Merzario / Carlos Pace . Strikes in Italy severely hampered the final assembly of the three racing cars in the Ferrari factory in Maranello , so that the vehicles could only be finally assembled at the racetrack. The first meeting between Scuderia Ferrari and the MS670B from Matra Sports took place in Vallelunga . In 1972 , the Italian and French racing teams avoided each other for the entire season, and neither team competed at the season opener in Daytona . Matra technical director Bernard Boyer reported two cars for Henri Pescarolo / Gérard Larrousse and François Cevert / Jean-Pierre Beltoise . The Gulf Racing Mirage M6 was driven by Mike Hailwood / Vern Schuppan and Derek Bell / Howden Ganley . Vern Schuppan joined the team at short notice and replaced John Watson, who was injured in an accident at Brands Hatch .

The decisive factor for the outcome of the race was the heavy wear on the front tires of the Ferrari 312PB, which was triggered by permanent understeer. That required several unplanned pit stops at Ferrari. The Cevert / Beltoise-Matra was in the lead for a long time and had to retire at half-time with a lead of three laps due to an engine failure. Before the final pit stops, Carlos Reutemann was leading 19 seconds ahead of Gérard Larrousse's Matra in his Ferrari. Boyer then let Cevert drive the Matra until the end of the race. Cevert made a one-minute lead from the deficit to the finish, with Reutemann having to drive slowly over the last three laps because the Ferrari was almost running out of gas.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S 3.0	5	Equipe Matra-Simca	Henri Pescarolo Gérard Larrousse François Cevert	Matra-Simca MS670B	290
2	S 3.0	3	Spa Ferrari SEFAC	Tim Schenken Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari 312PB	290
3	S 3.0	11	Spa Ferrari SEFAC	Jacky Ickx Brian Redman	Ferrari 312PB	289
4th	S 3.0	2	Spa Ferrari SEFAC	Arturo Merzario Carlos Pace	Ferrari 312PB	288
5	S 3.0	12	Reinhold Joest	Reinhold Joest Mario Casoni	Porsche 908/03	272
6th	S 3.0	25th	Scuderia Filipinetti	Reine Wisell Jean-Louis Lafosse	Lola T282	268
7th	GT	9	Martini Racing Team	George Follmer Willi Kauhsen	Porsche Carrera RSR	251
8th	GT	8th	Martini Racing Team	Gijs van Lennep Herbert Müller	Porsche Carrera RSR	251
9	S 3.0	31	Porsche Club Romand	Claude Haldi Juan Fernández	Porsche 908/03	229
10	S 2.0	45	Scuderia S. Michele	Giovanni Morelli Mauro Nesti	Chevron B21	227
11	S 2.0	28	Eris Tondelli	Eris Tondelli Stefano Buonapace	Chevron B21	225
12	S 2.0	14th	Intertech Steering Wheels	Trevor Twaites Brendan McInerney	Chevron B21 / B23	221
Failed
13	S 3.0	7th	Gulf Racing	Mike Hailwood Vern Schuppan	Mirage M6	210
14th	S 2.0	18th	Ember Racing	Bob Howlings John Hine Lee Kaye	Chevron B19 / 21	178
15th	S 3.0	4th	Equipe Matra-Simca	François Cevert Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Matra-Simca MS670B	155
16	GT	32	Porsche Club Romand	Bernard Chenevière Peter Zbinden	Porsche Carrera RSR	130
17th	S 3.0	26th	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Carlo Facetti Marsilio Pasotti	Alfa Romeo T33 / TT / 3	93
18th	S 3.0	6th	Gulf Racing	Derek Bell Howden Ganley	Mirage M6	79
19th	S 2.0	21st	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Vincenzo Cazzago Giancarlo Gagliardi	Lola T290	78
20th	S 2.0	44	Scuderia Pegaso	Eugenio Renna Ignazio Capuano	Chevron B23	78
21st	S 2.0	23	Scuderia Vesuvio	Cosimo Turizio Ciro Nappi	Chevron B21	25th
22nd	S 2.0	11	AMS Corse	Francesco Cerulli-Irelli Carlo Zuccoli	AMS 273	18th
Not started
23	S 3.0	29	Giorgio Schön	Giorgio Schön Jean Canonica	Lola T292	1
24	S 2.0	36	Cesare Garone	Aladino Stefanelli Gérard Camilli	AMS 273	2
Not qualified
25th	GT	22nd	Marcello Gallo	Marcello Gallo Cristiano Del Balzo	De Tomaso Pantera	3
26th	GT	24	P. La Starza	Father La Starza Claudio Bruschi	Porsche 914/6	4th
27	GT	34	Mario Radicella	Mario Radicella Carlo Pietromarchi	De Tomaso Pantera	5

¹ not started ² not started ³ not qualified ⁴ not qualified ⁵ not qualified

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
28	S 2.0	15th	Escuderia Montjuich	José Juncadella	Chevron B21 / 23
29	S 2.0	16	Roger Heavens	Roger Heavens	Chevron B21 / 23
30th	S 2.0	19th	John Miles	John Miles Andrea de Adamich	GRD S72
31	S 2.0	26th	Franco Berruto	Franco Berruto Mario Ilotte	Abarth 2000
32	S 2.0	27	Lino Caprioli	Lino Caprioli	Lola T290
33	S 3.0	30th	Giorgio Pianta	Giorgio Pianta	Lola T282
34	GT	33	Massimo de Antoni	Massimo de Antoni	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4
35	GT	35	Spartaco Dini	Spartaco Dini	Porsche 911S
36	S 3.0	37	Wicky Racing Team	Max Cohen-Olivar	Porsche 908/02
37	S 3.0	38	Walter Brun	Walter Brun	Porsche 908/02
38	GT	39	Wicky Racing Team	André Wicky	De Tomaso Pantera
39	S 2.0	41	Stefano Buonapace	Stefano Buonapace	Chevron B23

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S 3.0	Henri Pescarolo	Gérard Larrousse	François Cevert	Matra-Simca MS670B	Overall victory
S 2.0	Giovanni Morelli	Mauro Nesti		Chevron B21	Rank 10
GT	George Follmer	Willy Kauhsen		Porsche Carrera RSR	Rank 7

Racing data

• Registered: 39
• Started: 22
• Valued: 12
• Race classes: 3
• Spectators: 30,000
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 3.206 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 290
• Total distance of the winning team: 929.630 km
• Winner's average: 154.938 km / h
• Pole position: François Cevert - Matra-Simca MS670B (# 4) - 1: 08.550 = 168.348 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Tim Schenken - Ferrari 312PB (# 3) - 1: 09.700 = 165.570 km / h
• Racing series: 2nd round of the sports car world championship in 1973

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 at Motorsport Magazine
• Race results at wspr

Previous race of the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 1000 km Dijon race in 1973