The 1980 World Sportscar Championship season was the 28th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship for Makes which was contested as a series running under both Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) regulations. It ran from 2 February 1980 to 28 September 1980, and comprised 11 races, including races run with Camel GT Championship.
A World Challenge for Endurance Drivers was also held over an eleven-round series, six of which were run concurrently with rounds of the World Championship for Makes.1980 World Challenge for Endurance Drivers – race results Retrieved on 22 December 2009 The Challenge was not awarded World Championship status, but would be promoted the following season and join the Championship for Makes.
The 16 combined events made for one of the most gruelling and varied championships in the history of motor racing. Some events, notably Le Mans and Daytona featured prototype sports cars. Others like the second shorter Daytona race and the Spa 24 Hour were touring car events with the rest consisting mostly of Grand Touring sportscars. Some of the European races featured Sports 2000 open bodied sports cars, but nothing larger than two litres engine capacity. No single driver started more than ten of the 16 races, with the Monza 1000 and the Riverside 5 Hour both occurring on the same day (and strangely both events counting towards the drivers title) no driver could attempt all 16. With over 1100 drivers competing it was one of the largest entries in the history of the sport.
The World Championship of Makes was contested in two classes, under and over 2000 cc of engine capacity. At the end of the championship Lancia and Porsche had won the two classes respectively with the same pointscore. The tie was broken in favour of Lancia, a fitting reward for the Italian manufacturer who had fielded a factory team of two or three Lancia Montecarlos across the European races featuring Formula One drivers and World Rally Champions like Riccardo Patrese, Eddie Cheever, Michele Alboreto, Piercarlo Ghinzani, Walter Röhrl and Markku Alén, as well as providing support to the Jolly Club team's Montecarlo who made trips to North America when the factory team did not.
In the World Endurance Challenge, only three drivers competed in ten races over the season and two of them were rewarded with first and second in the Challenge. American John Paul, Sr. won the series despite collecting only one win, the final race; the Road America 500 co-driving with his son, John Paul Jr. in their Porsche 935. Paul raced a variety of Porsches, 935s and a 930 as well as a Mazda RX-3 at the 6 Hours of Daytona touring car race. British driver John Fitzpatrick was just five points behind Paul at seasons finish despite taking three race wins at Sebring, Riverside and Mosport. He had used Porsche 935s and an AMC Spirit in his championship chase. Porsche 935 and Mazda RX-3 racer Dick Barbour finished third, four points behind Fitzpatrick.
Two drivers lost their lives during the season. Martin Raymond was killed in a Chevron B36 at Brands Hatch and Manuel Quintana died in a qualifying accident at Sebring in his Porsche 911.
Schedule The following 16 races made up the 1980 World Championship for Makes and World Challenge for Endurance Drivers. MakesRnd DriversRnd Race Circuit Date 1 1 24 Hour Pepsi Challenge Daytona International Speedway 2 February3 February 2 Brands Hatch 6 Hours Brands Hatch 16 March 2 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International Raceway 22 March 3 Mugello 6 Hours Mugello Circuit 13 April 4 3 1000 km Monza Autodromo Nazionale Monza 27 April 4 Riverside 5 Hours Riverside International Raceway 27 April 5 5 Silverstone 6 Hours Silverstone Circuit 11 May 6 6 1000 km Nürburgring Nürburgring 25 May 7 7 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe 14 June15 June 8 6 Hours of Daytona Daytona International Speedway 29 June 8 6 Hours of Watkins Glen Watkins Glen International 6 July 9 Spa 24 Hours Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 26 July27 July 9 10 Molson Canadian 1000 (6 Hours) Mosport Park 17 August 10 6 Hours of Vallelunga Vallelunga Circuit 7 September 11 Road America 500 Road America 31 August 11 1000 km Dijon Dijon-Prenois 28 September
Season results Although a multitude of classes contended for the Championship for Makes, only the overall race winners are listed here.
Rnd Circuit Overall Winning Team Results Overall Winning Drivers 1 Daytona #2 LM Joest Racing Results Reinhold Joest Rolf Stommelen Volkert Merl 2 Brands Hatch #19 Lancia Corse Results Riccardo Patrese Walter Röhrl 3 Mugello #33 Lancia Corse Results Riccardo Patrese Eddie Cheever 4 Monza #34 Alain de Cadenet Results Alain de Cadenet Desiré Wilson 5 Silverstone #8 Alain de Cadenet Results Alain de Cadenet Desiré Wilson 6 Nürburgring #31 Liqui Moly Joest Racing Results Rolf Stommelen Jürgen Barth 7 La Sarthe #16 Jean Rondeau Results Jean Rondeau Jean-Pierre Jaussaud 8 Watkins Glen #31 Lancia Corse Results Riccardo Patrese Hans Heyer 9 Mosport #6 Dick Barbour Racing Results John Fitzpatrick Brian Redman 10 Vallelunga #42 Giorgio Francia Results Giorgio Francia Roberto Marazzi 11 Dijon #1 Sportwagen Team Results Jürgen Barth Henri Pescarolo
Although a multitude of classes contended for the World Challenge for Endurance Drivers, only the overall race winners are listed here.
Rnd Circuit Overall Winning Team Results Overall Winning Drivers 1 Daytona #2 LM Joest Racing Results Reinhold Joest Rolf Stommelen Volkert Merl 2 Sebring #6 Dick Barbour Racing Results John Fitzpatrick Dick Barbour 3 Monza #34 Alain de Cadenet Results Alain de Cadenet Desiré Wilson 4 Riverside #6 Dick Barbour Racing Results John Fitzpatrick Dick Barbour 5 Silverstone #8 Alain de Cadenet Results Alain de Cadenet Desiré Wilson 6 Nürburgring #31 Liqui Moly Joest Racing Results Rolf Stommelen Jürgen Barth 7 La Sarthe #16 Jean Rondeau Results Jean Rondeau Jean-Pierre Jaussaud 8 Daytona #78 Performance Innovations Results Rob McFarlin Hurley Haywood 9 Spa-Francorchamps #3 Belga Castrol Team Results Jean-Michel Martin Philippe Martin 10 Mosport #6 Dick Barbour Racing Results John Fitzpatrick Brian Redman 11 Road America #18 JLP Racing Results John Paul Jr. John Paul, Sr.
World Championship for Makes - Results The World Championship for Makes was only open to select categories of cars. This included the FIA's Group 5 Special Production Cars, Group 4 Grand Touring Cars, Group 3 Series Production Grand Touring Cars, Group 2 Touring Cars, and Group 1 Series Production Touring Cars. An overall championship was awarded as well as two class titles: Division 1, for cars over 2000 cc and Division 2 for those under 2000 cc.
Points were awarded to the top ten finishers in each division in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1, with only the best eight results out of the eleven races being counted.Seasonal Survey, Beta follows Alfa, Autosport, 29 January 1981, page 33 Only the best placed entry of each make in each division was eligible to score points, with no points awarded to other placings.
Overall Championship The overall championship was to be awarded to the make achieving the highest net point score in either Division. The resultant tie between Porsche and Lancia was decided in Lancia's favour due to the greater number of Division victories scored by the Italian make.János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, page 1288
Division 1 : Over 2000 cc Pos Manufacturer Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Rd 11 Total 1 Porsche 20 20 (15) 20 20 20 20 20 20 (15) (20) 160 2 Lancia 20 20 40 3 Ferrari 12 12 4 BMW 4 4 5 Opel 3 3
Division 2 : Under 2000 cc Pos Manufacturer Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Rd 11 Total 1 Lancia 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 (20) (20) 160 2 BMW 15 12 12 20 59 3= Porsche 15 15 3= Fiat 15 15 5 Ford 4 4 6 Opel 1 1
World Championship for Makes - The cars The following models contributed to the net points scored by makes in the 1980 championship.
Division 1 Porsche 935 Lancia Montecarlo Ferrari 512BB BMW M1 Opel Monza
Division 2 Lancia Montecarlo BMW 320i Porsche 935 Fiat X1/9 Ford Escort RS 2000 Opel Kadett
World Challenge for Endurance Drivers - Results The World Challenge for Endurance Drivers was won by John Paul Sr. from John Fitzpatrick and Brian Redman.1980 World Challenge for Endurance Drivers - points table Retrieved on 22 December 2009
References
External links 1980 World Championship For Makes - race results World Championship image galleries