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

Porsche won the championship with its 908/3 and 936 models. A 936 in 1977 livery is pictured above.
Rnd Race Circuit Date
1 Germany ADAC Nürburgring 300 km Nürburgring April 4
2 Italy Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo (4 Hours) Autodromo Nazionale Monza April 25
3 Italy Trofeo Ignazio Giunti (500 km) Autodromo Dino Ferrari May 23
4 Italy Coppa Florio (4 Hours) Autodromo di Pergusa June 27
5 Canada Player's 200 Mosport August 22
6 France ACF 500 km of Dijon Dijon-Prenois September 5
7 Austria 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 Germany #5 Joest Racing Germany #40 Helmut Bross Results
Germany Reinhold Joest Germany Helmut Bross
Germany Porsche 908/3 United Kingdom Lola T294-BMW
2 Monza Germany #3 Martini Racing #22 Ateneo Results
Germany Jochen Mass
Belgium Jacky Ickx 		Italy "Amphicar"
Italy Armando Floridia
Germany Porsche 936 Italy Osella PA4-BMW
3 Imola Germany #7 Martini Racing #30 Torino Corse Results
Germany Jochen Mass
Belgium Jacky Ickx 		Italy Roby Filannino
Italy Ermanno Pettiti
Germany Porsche 936 Italy Osella PA4-BMW
4 Pergusa Germany #4 Martini Racing Italy #35 Roby Filannino Results
Germany Jochen Mass
Germany Rolf Stommelen 		Italy Roby Filannino
Italy Ermanno Pettiti
Germany Porsche 936 Italy Osella PA4-BMW
5 Mosport Germany #20 Martini Racing #47 Anthony R. Cicale Results†
Belgium Jacky Ickx United States Tony Cicale
Germany Porsche 936 United Kingdom Chevron B26-Hart
6 Dijon Germany #6 Martini Racing #34 Racing Organisation Course Results
Germany Jochen Mass
Belgium Jacky Ickx 		France Jean-Louis Lafosse
France Jean-Pierre Jaussaud
Germany Porsche 936 United Kingdom Chevron B36-ROC
7 Salzburgring Germany #3 Martini Racing Results
Germany Jochen Mass Austria Dieter Quester
Germany Porsche 936 Italy 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 Germany Porsche 20 20 20 20 20 (20) (20) 100
2= France Alpine 15 2 15 15 47
2= Italy Osella 10 10 15 12 47
4 United Kingdom Lola 15 3 6 8 8 40
5 United Kingdom March 10 1 3 12 4 30
6 United Kingdom Chevron 1 4 10 4 4 23
7 Italy Alfa Romeo 15 15
8 United Kingdom Mirage 12 12
9= Germany KMW [5] 4 4 8
9= United Kingdom McLaren 8 8
9= Switzerland Sauber 8 8
12 Italy Abarth 6 6
13 Switzerland Cheetah 2 2

The cars

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

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 United Kingdom Lola 20 10 12 - 15 20 - 77
2 Italy Osella - 20 20 20 - 6 - 66
3 United Kingdom Chevron - - 6 8 20 15 12 61
4 United Kingdom March 15 8 8 15 - - - 46
5 Switzerland Sauber - - - - - - 20 20
6 Italy Abarth - - - - - - 15 15
7 United States Ford 12 - - - - - - 12

World Championship of Makes

Main article: 1976 World Championship for Makes season

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

  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

External links

World Sportscar Championship seasons
Categories