Eppie Wietzes

Eppie Wietzes

Nation:	Canada
Automobile world championship
First start:	1967 Canadian Grand Prix
Last start:	1974 Canadian Grand Prix
Constructors
1967 Lotus  • 1974 Team Canada
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 2 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Egbert "Eppie" Wietzes (born May 28, 1938 in Assen , Netherlands ; † June 11, 2020 ) was a Canadian racing driver . In 1967 and 1974 he contested the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix .

Career

1960s

In the 1960s, Wietzes first made a name for itself through various races in GT and sports car races . In 1963 he received an engagement in the USRRC , but had to end prematurely due to a serious accident in 1964 in which he sustained serious leg injuries.

In 1966 Wietzes competed in a Ford GT40 for the Canadian “Comstock Racing Team” in the six races of the season of the newly founded Canadian CanAm series, with his best and only result in the championship points being sixth in Mosport .

Also in 1966 Wietzes took together with Craig Fisher at the 12-hour race at Sebring in part, but withdrew from the race.

When the first Canadian Grand Prix in Formula 1 history was held in Mosport in 1967 , Wietzes rented the third plant - the Lotus and, with the competitive Lotus 49 , got the same technical equipment as teammates Jim Clark and Graham Hill . Despite this, Wietzes was 8.4 seconds behind Clark's pole position in qualifying due to his inexperience in handling Formula 1 cars and qualified for the start in 17th place, but was canceled during the race due to a wet ignition . Wietzes was subsequently disqualified because he sought outside help when trying to start the car again.

In 1968 Wietzes returned as a driver to the USRRC and finished the championship in his McLaren M6B in seventh place in the overall standings.

Since the USRRC dissolved in 1969, Wietzes switched to the "Canadian Formula Atlantic", whose championship he won in 1969 in a Lola T142 and in 1970 in a McLaren M10 .

1970s and 1980s

1970 to 1975 Wietzes also drove for McLaren and Lola in Formula 5000 , where he always showed constant performance. His best result of the season was fourth place in the championship three times.

After Wietzes at the Canadian Grand Prix in 1973 at Mosport first safety car was deployed -Fahrer the Grand Prix history, he purchased a Brabham BT42 for the coming year again a Formula 1 activities with his private team "Canada F1 Racing ". With great effort Wietzes was able to qualify for the 26th and immediately last starting place. However, he had to end the race prematurely after an engine failure.

From 1976 to 1985 he drove in the US Trans-Am series , whose championship he won in a Chevrolet Corvette in 1981 with two victories of the season.

In addition, Wietzes took part in the endurance races of the 6-hour races in Mosport and 24-hour races in Daytona a few times in the 1970s and 1980s , albeit without achieving great success.

In 1993 Wietzes was inducted into the "Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame" in honor of his almost thirty years of motorsport career.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

These statistics include all of the driver's participations in the World Automobile Championship, which is now known as the Formula 1 World Championship .

Single results

year	team	dare	engine	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	WM	Points
1967	Team Lotus	Lotus 49	Cosworth V8	RSA	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	CAN DSQ	ITA	United States	MEX					-	0
1974	Team Canada F1 Racing	Brabham BT42	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN DNF	United States	-	0

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1966	Comstock Racing Team	Ford GT40	Craig Fisher	withdrawn
1975	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 365 GT4 / BB	Milt Minter	Rank 6
1987	Peerless Hendrick	Chevrolet Camaro	Jack Baldwin	failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1966	Comstock Racing	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
				DNF
1977	Jim Busby Racing	Porsche 935	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
														DNF
1980	Fifth Essence Racing	Chevrolet Corvette	DAY	BRH	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	VAL	DIJ
															DNF
1981	Carter Racing Cooke Woods Racing	Chevrolet Camaro Lola T600	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
			DNF												2

Web links

• Biography on f1rejects.com (English)
• Eppie Wietzes at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marcus Pye: Two-time F1 starter and 1981 Trans-Am champion Eppie Wietzes dies. In: https://www.autosport.com/ . Retrieved June 13, 2020 .