1976 World Sportscar Championship
The 1976 World Sports Car Championship (officially the World Championship for Sports Cars,[1]) was a motor racing series open to Group 6 cars,[2] (officially Two-Seater Racing Cars (Group 6)).[3] The championship was contested over a seven race series which ran from 4 April to 19 September and included a secondary award, the 1976 FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres.[4] 1976 was the 24th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing.
The championship was won by Porsche[1] and the FIA Cup by Lola.[4]
Schedule
| Rnd | Race | Circuit | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  ADAC Nürburgring 300 km | Nürburgring | April 4 |
| 2 |  Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo (4 Hours) | Autodromo Nazionale Monza | April 25 |
| 3 | Trofeo Ignazio Giunti (500 km) | Autodromo Dino Ferrari | May 23 |
| 4 | Coppa Florio (4 Hours) | Autodromo di Pergusa | June 27 |
| 5 |  Player's 200 | Mosport | August 22 |
| 6 |  ACF 500 km of Dijon | Dijon-Prenois | September 5 |
| 7 |  Elan Trophy (200 miles) | Salzburgring | September 19 |
Season results
Races
| Rnd | Circuit | Winning Team | 2-Litre Winning Team | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Drivers | 2-Litre Winning drivers | |||
| Winning Car | 2-Litre Winning Car | |||
| 1 | Nürburgring | #5 Joest Racing | #40 Helmut Bross | Results |
| Reinhold Joest | Helmut Bross | |||
| Porsche 908/3 |  Lola T294-BMW | |||
| 2 | Monza | #3 Martini Racing | #22 Ateneo | Results |
Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx | "Amphicar" Armando Floridia | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW | |||
| 3 | Imola | #7 Martini Racing | #30 Torino Corse | Results |
| Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx | Roby Filannino Ermanno Pettiti | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW | |||
| 4 | Pergusa | #4 Martini Racing | #35 Roby Filannino | Results |
| Jochen Mass Rolf Stommelen | Roby Filannino Ermanno Pettiti | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW | |||
| 5 | Mosport | #20 Martini Racing | #47 Anthony R. Cicale | Results† |
| Jacky Ickx |  Tony Cicale | |||
| Porsche 936 | Chevron B26-Hart | |||
| 6 | Dijon | #6 Martini Racing | #34 Racing Organisation Course | Results |
| Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx | Jean-Louis Lafosse Jean-Pierre Jaussaud | |||
| Porsche 936 | Chevron B36-ROC | |||
| 7 | Salzburgring | #3 Martini Racing | Results | |
| Jochen Mass | Dieter Quester | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW |
† - In the race, Ickx finished behind two Group 7 CanAm cars, but these large capacity cars were not eligible for Group 6 championship points.
Results - 1976 World Championship for Sports Cars
Points were awarded to the top ten finishers in each race in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car in each race with no points awarded for any additional placing gained.
Only the best 5 points finishes per manufacturer could be retained towards the championship, with any other points earned not included in the totals. Discarded points are shown within brackets in the table below.
| Pos [1] | Manufacturer [1] | Rd 1 [1] | Rd 2 [1] | Rd 3 [1] | Rd 4 [1] | Rd 5 [1] | Rd 6 [1] | Rd 7 [1] | Total [1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porsche | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | (20) | (20) | 100 |
| 2= | Alpine | 15 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 47 | |||
| 2= | Osella | 10 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 47 | |||
| 4 | Lola | 15 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 40 | ||
| 5 | March | 10 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 30 | ||
| 6 | Chevron | 1 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 23 | ||
| 7 | Alfa Romeo | 15 | 15 | ||||||
| 8 | Mirage | 12 | 12 | ||||||
| 9= | KMW [5] | 4 | 4 | 8 | |||||
| 9= | McLaren | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 9= |  Sauber | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 12 | Abarth | 6 | 6 | ||||||
| 13 | Cheetah | 2 | 2 |
- The opening round at the Nürburgring was also contested by Group 4 GT cars which were not eligible for World Championship points.[6]
- The fifth round at Mosport was also contested by Group 7 Can-Am cars which were not eligible for World Championship points.[7]
The cars
The following cars contributed to the nett championship pointscores of their respective manufacturers:[8]
- Porsche 908/4 & Porsche 936
- Alpine Renault A442
- Osella PA4 BMW
- Lola T292/4 BMW, Lola T292 Ford, Lola T292 T290/4 Ford & Lola T292 Hart & Lola T286 Ford
- March 75S BMW
- Chevron B36 ROC & Chevron B23 Ford & Chevron B26 Hart & Chevron B26 Ford
- Alfa Romeo 33TS12
- Mirage GR8 Ford
- KMW SP30 Porsche
- McLaren M8F Chevrolet
- Sauber SC5 BMW
- Abarth-Osella SE027 BMW
- Cheetah G601 BMW
FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres
The 1976 FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres was contested concurrently with the 1976 World Championship for Sports Cars.[4]
| Position [4] | Manufacturer [4] | Nur [4] | Mon [4] | Imo [4] | Ena [4] | Mos [4] | Dij [4] | Sal [4] | Total [4] |
| 1 | Lola | 20 | 10 | 12 | - | 15 | 20 | - | 77 |
| 2 | Osella | - | 20 | 20 | 20 | - | 6 | - | 66 |
| 3 | Chevron | - | - | 6 | 8 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 61 |
| 4 | March | 15 | 8 | 8 | 15 | - | - | - | 46 |
| 5 | Sauber | - | - | - | - | - | - | 20 | 20 |
| 6 | Abarth | - | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | 15 |
| 7 | Ford | 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 |
World Championship of Makes
For the 1976 season, the FIA chose to run two separate World Championships for "sportscars". Open-cockpit Group 6 cars would contest the new World Championship for Sports Cars, while production-based cars, including Group 5 Special Production Cars, would now contest the World Championship for Makes. The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was open to both types of cars, did not count towards either championship. The World Championship for Makes was won by Porsche.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Results of the 1976 FIA International Championships - World Championship for Sports Cars, 1977 FIA Yearbook, pages 86 & 87
- ^ János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Page 1040
- ^ 1976 FIA Yearbook, page 9
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Results of the 1976 FIA International Championships - FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres, 1977 FIA Yearbook, page 87
- ^ The 1977 FIA Yearbook results table shows this manufacturer as "BMW". János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999 (on page 1089) lists the championship place as awarded to "KMW" and (on pages 1055 to 1057) shows the 7th placed "Sports" car at both the Nürburgring and Monza rounds as a "KMW-Porsche SP30"
- ^ János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Page 1079
- ^ János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Page 1053
- ^ World Championship 1976, www.classicscars.com (Note that the page shows results for both the seven rounds of the 1976 World Championship for Makes and the seven rounds of the 1976 World Championship for Sports Cars) Retrieved 16 March 2021
External links
- World Sportscar Championship 1976, www.racingsportscars.com (Also includes details of World Championship for Makes 1976)
