1976 World Sportscar Championship

1976 World Sportscar Championship season
Previous:	1975	Next:	1977

The 1976 World Sports Car Championship season was part of the 24th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1976 World Championship for Sports Cars,^[1] which was open to Group 6 cars,^[2] officially referred to as "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 was won by Porsche.^[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	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

Races

Rnd	Circuit	Winning team	Results
		Winning drivers
		Winning car
1	Nürburgring	#5 Joest Racing	Results
		Reinhold Joest
		Porsche 908/3
2	Monza	#3 Martini Racing	Results
		Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx
		Porsche 936
3	Imola	#7 Martini Racing	Results
		Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx
		Porsche 936
4	Pergusa	#4 Martini Racing	Results
		Jochen Mass Rolf Stommelen
		Porsche 936
5	Mosport	#20 Martini Racing	Results^†
		Jacky Ickx
		Porsche 936
6	Dijon	#6 Martini Racing	Results
		Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx
		Porsche 936
7	Salzburgring	#3 Martini Racing	Results
		Jochen Mass
		Porsche 936

† - 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 10 finishers in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only given points for their highest finishing car; any other cars from that manufacturer were merely skipped in the points standings.

Only the best 5 points finishes counted towards the championship, with any other points earned not included in the total. 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 opening round at the Nürburgring was also contested by Group 4 GT cars which were not eligible for World Championship points.^[6]
• The fifth round at Mosport was also contested by Group 7 Can-Am cars which were not eligible for World Championship points.^[7]

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.^[8]

Position [8]	Manufacturer [8]	Nur [8]	Mon [8]	Imo [8]	Ena [8]	Mos [8]	Dij [8]	Sal [8]	Total [8]
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

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. Events in which both types of car ran, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, were not counted towards either championship. The World Championship for Makes was won by Porsche.

References

1. 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. Automobile Year, 1976/77, pages 224 to 227
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. Results of the 1976 FIA International Championships - FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres, 1977 FIA Yearbook, page 87

External links

• 1976 World Sportscar Championship results