US Grand Prix West 1976
| Racing data | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3rd of 16 races of the 1976 Automobile World Championship | ||
|
||
| Surname: | II Grand Prix of Long Beach | |
| Date: | March 28, 1976 | |
| Place: | Long Beach | |
| Course: | Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit | |
| Length: | 260.08 km in 80 laps of 3.251 km
|
|
| Weather: | sunny and warm | |
| Spectator: | ~ 100,000 | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver: |
 Clay Regazzoni
|
 Ferrari
|
| Time: | 1: 23.099 min | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver: |
Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari
|
| Time: | 1: 23.076 min | |
| Podium | ||
| First: |
Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari
|
| Second: |
 Niki Lauda
|
Ferrari
|
| Third: |
 Patrick Depailler
|
 Tyrrell-Ford
|
The 1976 US Grand Prix took place in Long Beach on March 28 and was the third race of the 1976 World Automobile Championship .
Reports
background
The Race of Champions at Brands Hatch , which was not part of the World Championship and was held the weekend after the South African Grand Prix , was won by James Hunt . Immediately afterwards, the vehicles were transported to California , where two weeks later a Formula 1 race with World Championship status was to take place on the street circuit of Long Beach for the first time. Since the traditional US Grand Prix in Watkins Glen was still on the racing calendar, a distinction was made between the Grand Prix of the US East and the Grand Prix of the US West , the latter being officially called the "Grand Prix of Long Beach".
Alan Jones , who had achieved second place for the Surtees team at Brands Hatch , was henceforth also used in World Championship races as the second works driver alongside Brett Lunger . March used a fourth factory car for Arturo Merzario , which brought with it the financial support of its own main sponsor. The two works cars of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Ronnie Peterson also started in the colors of a new sponsor, as did the Ensign from Chris Amon and the Parnelli from Mario Andretti . The Shadow team , on the other hand, had to forego the support of a sponsor who only jumped in at the South African GP at short notice and therefore competed in a neutral black livery.
training
The training was characterized by several mostly harmless impacts in the concrete walls that bordered the route. There were also several technical defects in the chassis area caused by the unevenness of the road surface.
Clay Regazzoni , with no points so far in the current season , showed the best training performance and secured pole position in front of Patrick Depailler , James Hunt and Niki Lauda . Tom Pryce and Ronnie Peterson formed the third row in front of Jean-Pierre Jarier and Vittorio Brambilla.
Since only 20 vehicles were allowed to race, seven drivers failed the qualification hurdle, including well-known drivers such as Jacky Ickx and Arturo Merzario .
run
While Regazzoni took the lead from Depailler and Hunt from pole position and was able to hold it through to the finish line, Carlos Reutemann and Vittorio Brambilla collided in the first corner and were eliminated. As a result of this, as well as a damage to the suspension on Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus 77 , the field of participants was reduced to 17 vehicles in the first lap.
In the third round, Hunt and Depailler collided. Only the French could then continue the race. This put Lauda in second place. A little later, Depailler fell back to seventh place because of a spinner. In the course of the following laps, however, he fought his way back to third place, which was also favored by the technical failures of Tom Pryce and Jody Scheckter .
Jacques Laffite , who took fourth place on lap 47 and defended it against Jean-Pierre Jarier and Jochen Mass until the end of the race, made a strong impression . This was the first point result for the Ligier factory team. Emerson Fittipaldi was also able to achieve the first point for the Copersucar team, which he ran with his brother Wilson , in sixth place .
Registration list
Classifications
Starting grid
| Item | driver | constructor | time | Ø speed | begin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari
|
1: 23.099 | 140.839 km / h | 1 |
| 2 |
Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1: 23.292 | 140.513 km / h | 2 |
| 3 |
James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 23.420 | 140.297 km / h | 3 |
| 4th |
Niki Lauda
|
Ferrari
|
1: 23.647 | 139.917 km / h | 4th |
| 5 |
Tom Pryce
|
Shadow Ford
|
1: 23.677 | 139.866 km / h | 5 |
| 6th |
 Ronnie Peterson
|
March-Ford
|
1: 24.157 | 139.069 km / h | 6th |
| 7th |
Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Shadow Ford
|
1: 24.163 | 139.059 km / h | 7th |
| 8th |
Vittorio Brambilla
|
March-Ford
|
1: 24.168 | 139.050 km / h | 8th |
| 9 |
John Watson
|
 Penske-Ford
|
1: 24.170 | 139.047 km / h | 9 |
| 10 |
 Carlos Reutemann
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
1: 24.265 | 138.890 km / h | 10 |
| 11 |
.svg){kind=small} Jody Scheckter
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1: 24.344 | 138.760 km / h | 11 |
| 12 |
Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra
|
1: 24.442 | 138.599 km / h | 12 |
| 13 |
.svg){kind=small} Carlos Pace
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
1: 24.472 | 138.550 km / h | 13 |
| 14th |
 Jochen Mass
|
McLaren-Ford
|
1: 24.541 | 138.437 km / h | 14th |
| 15th |
Mario Andretti
|
Parnelli-Ford
|
1: 24.566 | 138.396 km / h | 15th |
| 16 |
Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Copersucar-Ford
|
1: 24.779 | 138.048 km / h | 16 |
| 17th |
 Chris Amon
|
Ensign-Ford
|
1: 24.803 | 138.009 km / h | 17th |
| 18th |
Hans-Joachim Stuck
|
March-Ford
|
1: 25.122 | 137.492 km / h | 18th |
| 19th |
 Alan Jones
|
Surtees-Ford
|
1: 25.214 | 137.344 km / h | 19th |
| 20th |
Gunnar Nilsson
|
Lotus Ford
|
1: 25.277 | 137.242 km / h | 20th |
| DNQ |
Michel Leclère
|
Williams-Ford
|
1: 25.436 | 136.987 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
Ingo Hoffmann
|
Copersucar-Ford
|
1: 25.557 | 136.793 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
Arturo Merzario
|
March-Ford
|
1: 25.737 | 136.506 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
Bob Evans
|
Lotus Ford
|
1: 25.890 | 136.263 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
 Jacky Ickx
|
Williams-Ford
|
1: 26.528 | 135.258 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
Harald Ertl
|
Hesketh-Ford
|
1: 26.824 | 134.797 km / h | - |
| DNQ |
Brett Lunger
|
Surtees-Ford
|
1: 26.828 | 134.791 km / h | - |
run
| Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari
|
80 | 0 | 1: 53: 18.471 | 1 | 1: 23.076 | |
| 2 |
Niki Lauda
|
Ferrari
|
80 | 0 | + 42.414 | 4th | 1: 23.625 | |
| 3 |
Patrick Depailler
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
80 | 0 | + 49.972 | 2 | 1: 23.892 | |
| 4th |
Jacques Laffite
|
Ligier-Matra
|
80 | 0 | +1: 12.828 | 12 | 1: 23.683 | |
| 5 |
Jochen Mass
|
McLaren-Ford
|
80 | 0 | +1: 22.292 | 14th | 1: 24.109 | |
| 6th |
Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Copersucar-Ford
|
79 | 0 | + 1 lap | 16 | 1: 24.465 | |
| 7th |
Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
Shadow Ford
|
79 | 0 | + 1 lap | 7th | 1: 24.804 | |
| 8th |
Chris Amon
|
Ensign-Ford
|
78 | 1 | + 2 rounds | 17th | 1: 25.143 | |
| 9 |
Carlos Pace
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
77 | 1 | + 3 rounds | 13 | 1: 24.591 | |
| 10 |
Ronnie Peterson
|
March-Ford
|
77 | 1 | + 3 rounds | 6th | 1: 25.052 | |
| - |
Alan Jones
|
Surtees-Ford
|
70 | 1 | NC | 19th | 1: 24.614 | Unrated |
| - |
John Watson
|
Penske-Ford
|
69 | 1 | NC | 9 | 1: 24.124 | Unrated |
| - |
Jody Scheckter
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
34 | 0 | DNF | 11 | 1: 25.279 | Suspension damage |
| - |
Tom Pryce
|
Shadow Ford
|
32 | 0 | DNF | 5 | 1: 24.853 | broken half-wave |
| - |
Mario Andretti
|
Parnelli-Ford
|
15th | 0 | DNF | 15th | 1: 26.622 | leaking water pipe |
| - |
James Hunt
|
McLaren-Ford
|
3 | 0 | DNF | 3 | 1: 27.985 | collision |
| - |
Hans-Joachim Stuck
|
March-Ford
|
2 | 0 | DNF | 18th | 1: 33.447 | collision |
| - |
Vittorio Brambilla
|
March-Ford
|
0 | 0 | DNF | 8th | - | collision |
| - |
Carlos Reutemann
|
Brabham-Alfa Romeo
|
0 | 0 | DNF | 10 | - | collision |
| - |
Gunnar Nilsson
|
Lotus Ford
|
0 | 0 | DNF | 20th | - | Tire damage |
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
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Constructors' championship
|
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Individual evidence
- ↑ "Training" ( memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on February 18, 2012)
- ^ "Report" (accessed on February 18, 2012)
- ↑ "World Cup stands" ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on February 18, 2012)
Web links
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