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

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Porsche won the championship with its 908/3 and 936 models. A 936 in 1977 livery is pictured above.
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

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Races

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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

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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 cars

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The following cars contributed to the nett championship pointscores of their respective manufacturers:[8]

FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres

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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

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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

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  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Page 1040
  3. ^ 1976 FIA Yearbook, page 9
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ 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"
  6. ^ János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Page 1079
  7. ^ János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, Page 1053
  8. ^ 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
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