Gunnar Nilsson (racing driver)
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| Nation: |
 Sweden
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| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
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| First start: | 1976 Grand Prix of South Africa | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1977 Japanese Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1976-1977 Lotus | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | World Cup eighth ( 1977 ) | ||||||||
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| World Cup points : | 31 | ||||||||
| Podiums : | 4th | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | 21 over 89 km | ||||||||
Gunnar Axel Arvid Nilsson (born November 20, 1948 in Helsingborg , † October 20, 1978 in London ) was a Swedish Formula 1 driver.
Family and personal life
Gunnar was the son of the Swedish real estate magnate Arvid Nilsson and his wife Elisabeth.
biography
Colin Chapman from the Lotus team made a new attempt in the 1976 Formula 1 season to make people forget the failures of the previous season . Chapman relied on the driver combination of the experienced Mario Andretti and Nilsson as a young talent. The “newcomer” Nilsson won the British Formula 3 Championship in 1975 and contested Formula 2 races. By profession he was a transport company. In the first two races of the season in Kyalami and Long Beach, Nilsson qualified in last place. In the third race of his first Formula 1 season, he surprisingly finished third on his Lotus 77/2 . Further points were won in the Grand Prix races in Germany, Austria and Japan. At the end of the season, Nilsson had scored 12 points.
The following year, Nilsson rose to become a regular driver at Lotus. In the 1977 Formula 1 season , he won the Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder on June 5, 1977 . Nilsson scored further points in France and England. At the end of the season, Nilsson had 20 points and was 8th overall. For the 1978 season he had signed a contract with the then newly established Arrows team. Because of a testicular cancer and the chemotherapy that followed, he could no longer contest a race. On September 15, 1978, Nilsson was the mourning guest of the fatally injured compatriot Ronnie Peterson . He then went back for medical treatment. Nilsson died at the age of 29 from complications from this cancer in a London hospital in the early hours of October 20, 1978.
His burial took place in Pålsjö kyrkogård (Eng. Pålsjö cemetery) in his native Helsingborg. In his honor, his mother Elisabeth Nilsson founded the Gunnar Nilsson's Cancer Foundation .
On June 3, 1979, the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy was held in honor of Nilsson in Donington Park , an automobile race with Formula 1 participation that did not have world championship status.
statistics
Results in the automobile world championship
These statistics include all participations of the driver in the Formula 1 World Championship , which until 1980 was known as the Automobile World Championship.
Grand Prix victories
- 1977 Belgian Grand Prix ( Zolder )
general overview
| season | team | chassis | engine | run | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Round | Points | WM-Pos. |
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| 1976 | John Player Team Lotus | Lotus 77 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | 15th | - | - | 2 | - | - | 11 | 10. |
| 1977 | John Player Team Lotus | Lotus 78 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | 17th | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 20th | 8th. |
Single results
| season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th |
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| 1976 |
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| DNF | DNF | 3 | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | 5 | 3 | DNF | 13 | 12 | DNF | 6th | |||
| 1977 |
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| DNS | 5 | 12 | 8th | 5 | DNF | 1 | 19th | 4th | 3 | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF |
| Legend | ||
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| 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 |
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| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
literature
- Achim Schlang: The Formula 1 aces of our time, Motorbuch-Verlag 1985, ISBN 3-613-01035-6 , pp. 108-111
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nilsson, Gunnar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nilsson, Gunnar Axel Arvid (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish Formula 1 racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 20, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Helsingborg , Sweden |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 20, 1978 |
| Place of death | London , England, UK |