1979 World Championship for Makes

1979 World Sportscar Championship

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The 1979 World Sportscar Championship season was the 27th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship for Makes which was open to Group 1 and 2 Touring Cars, Group 3 and 4 Grand Touring cars, and Group 5 Special Production Cars. The championship ran from 3 February to 16 September 1979 and consisted of nine rounds. It was contested in two engine capacity divisions, Over 2 Litres and Under 2 Litres.

The Over 2 Litres Division was won by Porsche and the Under 2 Litres Division by Lancia.

Schedule

Lancia won the Under 2 Litres Division with the Beta Montecarlo.

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Date
1	24 Hour Pepsi Challenge	Daytona International Speedway	3 February 4 February
2	6 Hours of Mugello	Mugello Circuit	18 March
3	Dijon 6 Hours	Dijon-Prenois	22 April
4	Rivet Supply 6 Hours	Silverstone Circuit	6 May
5	1000km Nürburgring	Nürburgring	3 June
6	Coppa Florio	Autodromo di Pergusa	24 June
7	Watkins Glen 6 Hours	Watkins Glen International	8 July
8	Rivet Supply 6 Hours	Brands Hatch	5 August
9	Trofeo Ignazio Giunti (6 Hours)	Vallelunga	16 September

Season results

Rnd	Circuit	Over 2.0 Winning Team	Under 2.0 Winning Team	Results
		Over 2.0 Winning Drivers	Under 2.0 Winning Drivers
		Over 2.0 Winning Car [1]	Under 2.0 Winning Car [1]
1	Daytona	#0 Interscope Racing	None	Results
		Ted Field Danny Ongais Hurley Haywood
		Porsche 935/79
2	Mugello	#12 Gelo Racing Team	None	Results
		Bob Wollek Manfred Schurti John Fitzpatrick
		Porsche 935/77
3	Dijon	#31 Gelo Racing Team	None	Results
		Bob Wollek Manfred Schurti Jacky Ickx
		Porsche 935/77
4	Silverstone	#3 Gelo Sportswear	None	Results
		Bob Wollek Hans Heyer John Fitzpatrick
		Porsche 935/77
5	Nürburgring	#6 Gelo Racing Team	#25 Jägermeister	Results
		Bob Wollek Manfred Schurti John Fitzpatrick	Eckhard Schrimpf Hans-Georg Bürger
		Porsche 935/77	BMW 320i
6	Pergusa	#4 Lubrifilm Racing	#11 Lancia Corse	Results
		Angelo Pallavicini Marco Vanoli	Riccardo Patrese Carlo Facetti
		Porsche Carrera RSR	Lancia Beta Montecarlo
7	Watkins Glen	#94 Whittington/Kremer	None	Results
		Don Whittington Bill Whittington Klaus Ludwig
		Porsche 935 K3
8	Brands Hatch	#27 Porsche Kremer Racing	#31 ASA Corse	Results
		Klaus Ludwig Axel Plankenhorn	Riccardo Patrese Walter Röhrl
		Porsche 935 K3	Lancia Beta Montecarlo
9	Vallelunga	#54 Ecurie Biennoise	#33 Giuseppi Piazzi	Results
		Enzo Calderari Willi Spavetti Rolf Moritz	Giuseppi Piazzi Renzo Zorzi Stanislao Sterzel
		Porsche Carrera RSR	Fiat X1/9

Note: Entries which were not eligible to score championship points are not accounted for in the above table.

Manufacturers' championship

Points were awarded for placings gained by the top ten cars in each division at each round in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. However, points were only awarded for the highest placed car from each make in each division and any other cars from that make were merely skipped in the points allocation.

Only the best seven round results for each make in each division counted towards the championship with any other points earned not included in the final totals. Relinquished points are shown within brackets.

Some rounds were also open to cars from other categories (e.g. Group 6 "Two Seater Racing Cars") however these cars were not eligible to score points for their respective makes.

Division - Over 2 Litre

Pos [2]	Make	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Total
1	Porsche	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	(20)	(20)	140
2	Ferrari	15					15				30
3	de Tomaso		6								6
4	Triumph							4			4
5	BMW							1			1

Division - Under 2 Litre

Pos [3]	Make	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Total
1	Lancia					10	20		20		50
2	BMW					20			12		32
3	Ford					15	15				30
	Porsche							15		15	30
5	Fiat									20	20
6	Volkswagen					6					6
7	Audi					2					2

The cars

The following models contributed to the nett points totals scored by their respective makes.

Division - Over 2 Litre

• Porsche 935 & 911 Carrera RSR
• Ferrari Daytona & 308GTB
• de Tomaso Pantera
• Triumph TR8
• BMW 3.5 CSL

Division - Under 2 Litre

• Lancia Beta Montecarlo
• BMW 320i
• Ford Escort
• Porsche
• Fiat X1/9
• Volkswagen Golf GTi
• Audi 80

References

1. World Championship 1979, www.classicscars.com Retrieved 20 March 2020
2. FIA Yearbook, 1980, grey section, page 85
3. FIA Yearbook, 1980, grey section, page 86

Further reading

• Automobile Year, 1979/80
• János Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999
• Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995

External links

• 1979 World Championship for Makes – race results Retrieved from wsrp.ic.cz
• 1979 World Championship for Makes – race images Retrieved from www.racingsportscars.com on 1 April 2009