The 21st Gran Premio Lotteria di Monza, made up the 8th round of the 1979 FIA European Championship, saw the series move to Autodromo Nazionale Monza, on June 24, 1979. This race was also round 8 of the Campionato Italian.
Report
Entry A grand total of 72 F3 cars were entered for the event. They were split into 3 groups.
Qualifying The Italian Championship front runners took pole position for Heats 1 and 2. Piercarlo Ghinzani took the pole for the Euroracing Srl team in his March-Toyota 793 for the Heat 1; teammate, Michele Alboreto, headed the grid for Heat 2. Mike Thackwell, from the British F3 series, took the pole for Heat 3 in his works entered as March-Toyota 793.
Heats Each heat was held over 8 laps of the historic Monza circuit. The victor of Heat 1 was Piercarlo Ghinzani from Guido Cappellotto. Heat 2 went to another Italian, Mauro Baldi, followed by Michele Alboreto. The final heat, Heat 3, saw Mike Thackwell take the chequered flag ahead of Carlo Rossi. The Championship leader, Alain Prost, only finished 13th in Heat 1 and did not progress into the final heat.
Final The final was held over 17 laps of the Monza circuit. Mike Thackwell was the winner for the March Engineering Ltd. team driving their March-Toyota 793. The kiwi won in a time of 32:13.33 minutes averaging a speed of 114.086 mph. Second place went to Mauro Baldi in his privately entered March-Toyota 793; he was exactly 1.1 seconds behind the winner. In third place was Michele Alboreto in his Euroracing Srl-entered March.
Classification
Final Pos. No. Driver Entrant Car - Engine Time, Laps Reason Out 1st 32 Mike Thackwell March Engineering Ltd March-Toyota 793 32:13.33 2nd 2 Mauro Baldi Mauro Baldi March-Toyota 793 32:14.43 3rd 6 Michele Alboreto Euroracing Srl March-Toyota 793 32:16.63 4th 7 Piercarlo Ghinzani Euroracing Srl March-Alfa Romeo 793 32:18.71 5th 14 Carlo Rossi Carlo Rossi Ralt-Toyota RT1 32:20.34 6th 69 Daniele Albertin Marlboro Vatellina Racing Team Ralt-Toyota RT1 32:21.11 7th 4 Richard Dallest Ecurie Elf Martini-Toyota MK27 32:39.80 8th 82 Enzo Coloni Enzo Coloni March-Toyota 783 32:41.36 9th 9 Michael Korten Klaus Zimmermann Racing Team March-Toyota 793 32:48.03 10th 29 Piero Necchi Astra Racing Team March-Toyota 793 32:49.03 11th 42 Gianluca Messini Trivellato Racing Chevron-Toyota B47 32:52.78 12th 19 Luciano Pavesi Pavesi Racing Ralt-Alfa Romeo RT1 32:54.74 13th 87 Cesare Passoli Cesare Passoli Ralt-Toyota RT1 32:55.88 14th 53 Walter Lechner RT Gätmo Tuning March-Toyota 783 32:56.51 15th 65 Fredy Schnarwiler Formel Rennsport Club March-Toyota 793 33:09.39 16th 8 Arie Luyendijk Racing Team Holland Argo-Toyota JM3 33:41.53 17th 83 Pasquale Zullo Pasquale Zullo March-Toyota 783 33:49.89 18th 3 Michael Bleekemolen Roger Heavens Racing March-Toyota 793 34:00.07 19th 24 Guido Cappellotto Guido Cappellotto Ralt-Toyota RT1 16 20th48 Jo Zeller Formel Rennsport Club March-Toyota 783 16 21st 17 Jakob Bordoli Scuderia Calanda Ralt-Toyota RT1 12 DNF 81 Gianluca Bagnara Gianluca Bagnara March-Toyota 783 6 DNF 57 Oscar Pedersoli Oscar PedersoliMarch-Toyota 783 4 DNF 45 Fernanro Cazzaniga Scuderia dei LongobardiMarch-Toyota 783 3 Accident DNF 25 Guido Dacco Guido DaccoMarch-Toyota 783 3 DNF 64 Rodolfo Bellini Scuderia Emiliani Dallara-Toyota WD1 3 DNF 62 Bernard Perroy Ecurie Montesanto Duqueine-Toyota VG3 3 DNQ 1 Alain Prost Ecurie Elf Martini-Renault MK27 DNQ 5 Daimon Metrebian Ecurie Elf Martini-Toyota MK21 DNQ 11 Augusto Avanzini Scuderia DerbyMarch-Toyota 793 DNQ 12 Silvano Colciago Silvano Colciago Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 15 Giampiero Consonni Scuderia Escolette Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 16 Roberto Campominosi Pavesi Racing Ralt-Alfa Romeo RT1 DNQ 18 Martin-Hans Mayer Martin-Hans Mayer Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 21 Riccardo Paletti Riccardo Paletti March-Toyota 793 DNQ 22 Vinicio Salmi Vinicio Salmi March-Toyota 783 DNQ 23 Sergio Leone Sergio Leone Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 26 Renato Dotta Renato Dotta March-Toyota 783 DNQ 27 Roberto Manzoni Roberto Manzoni Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 28 Marcello Rosei Marcello Rosei March-Toyota 773 DNQ 31 Gianni Giudici Gianni Giudici Osella-Toyota DNQ 33 Filippo Baj Filippo Baj Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 34 Fernando Spreafico Fernando Spreafico Chevron-Toyota B38 DNQ 35 Giovanni Bertaccini Giovanni Bertaccini Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 36 Guido Pardini Guido Pardini Dallara-Toyota WD1 DNQ 37 Karl Schuchnig KWS Motorsport Chevron-Toyota B47 DNQ 38 Alan Smith KWS Motorsport Chevron-Toyota B47 DNQ 39 Thierry Boutsen Roger Heavens Racing March-Toyota 793 DNQ 41 Enrico Uncini Marlboro Valtellina Racing Team Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 43 Almo Coppelli Trivellato Racing Chevron-Toyota B47 DNQ 44 Massimo Fabiani Massimo Fabiani March-Toyota 783 DNQ 46 Pietro Villa Pietro Villa March-Toyota 793 DNQ 47 Marcello Capriani Marcello Capriani Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 49 Jean-Pierre Rochat Jean-Pierre Rochat Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 51 Franz Konrad Klaus Zimmermann Racing March-Toyota 793 DNQ 52 Walter Schöch Walter Schöch Racing Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 54 Jo Gartner Jim Beam Team Martini-Renault MK27 DNQ 55 Philippe Streiff Ecurie Motul Nogaro Martini-Renault MK27 DNQ 56 Fulvio Ballabio Fulvio Ballabio Branca-Toyota DNQ 58 Alain Hubert Kores Racing Lola-Renault T770 DNQ 59 Philippe Alliot Kores Racing Lola-Renault T770 DNQ 61 Bruno Pescia Bruno Pescia March-Toyota 793 DNQ 63 Helmut Henzler Volkswagen Motorsport – Spiess Tuning March-Volkswagen 793 DNQ 66 Massimo Valentini Scuderia Emiliani Dallara-Toyota WD1 DNQ 67 Bruno Eichmann Lista Racing Team Argo-BMW JM3 DNQ 68 Jürg Lienhard Lista Racing Team March-Toyota 793 DNQ 84 Marcel Wittstein Formel Rennsport Club Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 85 Guido Regosa Edo Squadra Corse Bellasi-Toyota DNQ 86 Constante Antonelli Constante Antonelli Lola-Toyota T730 DNQ 88 Marzio Romano Marzio Romano March-Toyota 793 DNQ 89 Leonardo Verrelli Leonardo Verrelli Ralt-Toyota RT1 DNQ 91 Jean-Pierre Traschel Jean-Pierre Traschel Lola-BMW T570
Fastest lap: Mike Thackwell, 1:52.50secs. (115.326 mph)
Heat 1 Pos. Driver Time 1st Ghinzani 15:17.95 2nd Cappellotto 15:25.31 3rd Dallest 15:25.70 4th Luyendijk 15:30.13 5th Korten 15:30.67 6th / DQ Campominosi 15:32.12 7th Messini 15:33.98 8th Passoli 15:37.52 9th Dacco 15:41.41 10th Zeller 15:44.03 11th Eichmann 15:44.49 12th Bertaccini 15:54.09 13th Prost DNF Boutsen Clutch DNF Metrebian Accident damage etc.. Roberto Campominosi (Pavesi Racing Ralt-Alfa Romeo) was disqualified from Heat 1, due to a leaking airbox.
Heat 2 Pos. Driver Time 1st Baldi 15:17.60 2nd Alboreto 15:19.91 3rd Pedersoli 15:20.74 4th Bleekemolen 15:21.65 5th Lechner 15:33.98 6th Perroy 15:47.71 7th Bagnara 15:48.70 8th Valentini 16:03.86 9th Zullo 16:08.06 10th Ballabio 11th Rosei DNF Paletti Accident damage etc..
Heat 3 Pos. Driver Time 1st Thackwell 15:18.18 2nd Rossi 15:19.20 3rd Coloni 15:23.07 4th Necchi 15:24.77 5th Cazzaniga 15:28.97 6th Albertin 15:29.38 7th Pavesi 15:30.11 8th Bordoli 15:30.71 9th Schnarwiler 15:34.43 10th Leone 15:38.66 11th Streiff 15:44.05 12th Verrelli 15:44.81 DNF Cipriani etc..
References