East US Grand Prix 1976

 East US Grand Prix 1976

Racing data
15th of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	XIX United States Grand Prix
Date:	October 10, 1976
Place:	Watkins Glen
Course:	Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course
Length:	320.665 km in 59 laps of 5.435 km
Weather:	cold and dry
Pole position
Driver:	James Hunt	McLaren
Time:	1: 43.622 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	James Hunt	McLaren
Time:	1: 42.851 min
Podium
First:	James Hunt	McLaren
Second:	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell
Third:	Niki Lauda	Ferrari

The 1976 US Grand Prix took place in Watkins Glen on October 10th and was the 15th race of the 1976 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

The penultimate race of the season took place a week after the Canadian Grand Prix . It was held in Watkins Glen under the official name "United States Grand Prix", while the race, which had already taken place on March 28 in Long Beach , was called the "Grand Prix of Long Beach" .

Guy Edwards had left the Hesketh Racing team . The resulting free cockpit was then given to the Brazilian guest starter Alex Ribeiro . Australian Warwick Brown stepped in for Chris Amon at Walter Wolf Racing and thus had his first and only Grand Prix participation.

training

James Hunt , who was only eight points behind Niki Lauda in the world championship standings , already made a strong impression during practice by securing pole position from Jody Scheckter . The second row was made up of the March works drivers Ronnie Peterson and Vittorio Brambilla . Lauda and the third March driver Hans-Joachim Stuck followed .

run

Scheckter had the best start. He took the lead in front of Hunt and Brambilla, who in turn overtook his teammate Peterson. While Scheckter and Hunt were able to set themselves apart from the rest of the field, Lauda overtook the two March in front of him and thus took third place.

Ensign pilot Jacky Ickx had a serious accident on lap 15. Although his car hit the guardrails headfirst, broke in two and caught fire, Ickx escaped with comparatively minor injuries. When driving over debris, Jacques Laffite and Vittorio Brambilla damaged their tires in promising positions and had to end the race. As a result, Jochen Mass , Hans-Joachim Stuck and Clay Regazzoni got into the points.

On the 36th lap, Hunt took the lead from Scheckter, but had to give it back to the South African four laps later due to a small driving error. On lap 45, Hunt overtook again and then defended the top position to the finish.

Lauda's third place was enough to win the constructors' championship in favor of Ferrari . Since Hunt had reduced the gap to Lauda by five points to just three points with his win, the drivers' championship decision was postponed to the season finale in Japan .

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	1	Niki Lauda	Ferrari 312T2	Ferrari 015 3.0 F12	G
	2	Clay Regazzoni
Eleven Team Tyrrell	3	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell P34	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
	4th	Patrick Depailler
John Player Team Lotus	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus 77		G
	6th	Gunnar Nilsson
Martini Racing	7th	Larry Perkins	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12	G
	8th	Carlos Pace
Beta Team March	9	Vittorio Brambilla	March 761	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
March engineering	10	Ronnie Peterson			G
	34	Hans-Joachim Stuck
Marlboro Team McLaren	11	James Hunt	McLaren M23		G
	12	Jochen Mass
Shadow Racing Team	16	Tom Pryce	Shadow DN8		G
	17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow DN5 B
Team Surtees	18th	Brett Lunger	Surtees TS19		G
	19th	Alan Jones
Walter Wolf Racing	20th	Arturo Merzario	Williams FW05		G
	21st	Warwick Brown
Team Ensign	22nd	Jacky Ickx	Ensign N176		G
Hesketh Racing	24	Harald Ertl	Hesketh 308 D		G
Penthouse Rizla Racing with Hesketh	25th	Alex Ribeiro
Ligier Gitanes	26th	Jacques Laffite	Ligier JS5	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	G
Citibank Team Penske	28	John Watson	Penske PC4	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G
Copersucar-Fittipaldi	30th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar FD04		G
Team Norev Racing with BS Fabrications	38	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees TS19		G
ÖASC Racing Team	39	Otto Stuppacher	Tyrrell 007		G

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	1: 43.622	188.821 km / h	01
02	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 43.870	188.370 km / h	02
03	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	1: 43.941	188.241 km / h	03
04th	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	1: 44.250	187.683 km / h	04th
05	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1: 44.257	187.671 km / h	05
06th	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	1: 44.265	187.656 km / h	06th
07th	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 44.516	187.206 km / h	07th
08th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	1: 44.719	186.843 km / h	08th
09	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	1: 45.102	186.162 km / h	09
10	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 45.274	185.858 km / h	10
11	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	1: 45.311	185.793 km / h	11
12	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	1: 45.324	185.770 km / h	12
13	Larry Perkins	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	1: 45.363	185.701 km / h	13
14th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	1: 45.534	185.400 km / h	14th
15th	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	1: 45.646	185.203 km / h	15th
16	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	1: 45.979	184.621 km / h	16
17th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	1: 46.067	184.468 km / h	17th
18th	Alan Jones	Shadow Ford	1: 46.402	183.888 km / h	18th
19th	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	1: 46.605	183.537 km / h	19th
20th	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	1: 46.667	183.431 km / h	20th
21st	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	1: 49.418	178.819 km / h	21st
22nd	Alex Ribeiro	Hesketh-Ford	1: 49.669	178.410 km / h	22nd
23	Warwick Brown	Wolf-Williams-Ford	1: 51.124	176.074 km / h	23
24	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	1: 51.373	175.680 km / h	24
25th	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	2: 00.932	161.793 km / h	25th
26th	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	2: 05.211	156.264 km / h	26th
DNQ	Otto Stuppacher	Tyrrell-Ford	2: 11.070	149.279 km / h	-

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	59	0	1: 42: 40.742	01	1: 42.851
02	Jody Scheckter	Tyrrell-Ford	59	0	+ 8.030	02	1: 43.263
03	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	59	0	+1: 02.324	05	1: 43.776
04th	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	59	0	+1: 02.458	17th	1: 43.570
05	Hans-Joachim Stuck	March-Ford	59	0	+1: 07.978	06th	1: 43.518
06th	John Watson	Penske-Ford	59	0	+1: 08.190	08th	1: 43.177
07th	Clay Regazzoni	Ferrari	58	0	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 44.734
08th	Alan Jones	Surtees-Ford	58	0	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 44.498
09	Emerson Fittipaldi	Copersucar-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	15th	1: 43.117
10	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Shadow Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	16	1: 45.775
11	Brett Lunger	Surtees-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	24	1: 47.151
12	Alex Ribeiro	Hesketh-Ford	57	0	+ 2 rounds	22nd	1: 47.104
13	Harald Ertl	Hesketh-Ford	54	0	+ 5 rounds	21st	1: 49.136
14th	Warwick Brown	Wolf-Williams-Ford	54	0	+ 5 rounds	23	1: 50.222
-	Henri Pescarolo	Surtees-Ford	48	0	NC	26th	1: 49.164	Unrated
-	Tom Pryce	Shadow Ford	45	0	DNF	09	1: 44.814	Engine failure
-	Vittorio Brambilla	March-Ford	34	0	DNF	12	1: 44.019	Tire damage
-	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	34	0	DNF	04th	1: 43.807	Tire damage
-	Carlos Pace	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	31	0	DNF	10	1: 43.990	collision
-	Larry Perkins	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	30th	0	DNF	13	1: 46.218	Suspension damage
-	Mario Andretti	Lotus Ford	23	0	DNF	11	1: 45.107	Suspension damage
-	Jacky Ickx	Ensign-Ford	14th	0	DNF	19th	1: 46.312	accident
-	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus Ford	13	0	DNF	20th	1: 47.448	Engine failure
-	Ronnie Peterson	March-Ford	12	0	DNF	03	1: 44.980	Suspension damage
-	Arturo Merzario	Wolf-Williams-Ford	09	0	DNF	25th	1: 48.995	collision
-	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	07th	0	DNF	07th	1: 45.661	Fuel pressure drop

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 9, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Niki Lauda Ferrari 68 02  James Hunt McLaren 65 03  Jody Scheckter Tyrrell 49 04th  Patrick Depailler Tyrrell 33 05  Clay Regazzoni Ferrari 29 06th  Jacques Laffite Ligier 20th 07th  John Watson Penske 20th 08th  Jochen Mass McLaren 19th 09  Mario Andretti Parnelli / Lotus 13 10  Gunnar Nilsson lotus 10

Item driver constructor Points 11  Tom Pryce Shadow 10 12  Ronnie Peterson March 10 13  Hans-Joachim Stuck March 8th 14th  Carlos Pace Brabham 7th 15th  Alan Jones Surtees 4th 16  Carlos Reutemann Brabham 3 17th  Emerson Fittipaldi Copersucar 3 18th  Chris Amon Ensign 2 19th  Vittorio Brambilla March 1 20th  Rolf Stommelen Brabham 1

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 81 02  McLaren 70 03  Tyrrell 65 04th  Penske 20th 05  Ligier 20th 06th  lotus 20th 07th  March 19th

Item constructor Points 08th  Shadow 10 09  Brabham 9 10  Surtees 4th 11  Copersucar 3 12  Ensign 2 13  Parnelli 1

Web links

• Race result on the official Formula 1 website

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Training" ( Memento from May 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on April 9, 2012)
2. ^ "Report" (accessed April 9, 2012)
3. ↑ "World Cup stands"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on April 9, 2012)