1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours

August 2023 thumb|Track map of Watkins Glen International (1956-1970) The 1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours was an endurance race held at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course, New York, United States on July 11, 1970. It was the ninth round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season. http://wspr-racing.com/wspr/results/wscc/ms1970.html#9 Loading... Pre-race thumb|Martini Racing blue and green "psychedelic" livery on a 1970 917K, as raced at Watkins Glen in 1970 with #35 (#31 was on a blue&white 917K) John Wyer's team had not won a race since Spa, and they came off an unsuccessful attempt at winning Le Mans; losing all three of their cars in 10 hours and the race to their sister teams, with Porsche Salzburg and Martini Racing on the podium. Mario Andretti returned to Ferrari to try to help the great marque repeat their triumph at Sebring less than 4 months previously. Ferrari were keen on doing this; a win here would be sufficient comeuppance for them after their Le Mans run. All four works cars had retired after 4 hours and 4 of 6 other privately entered 512's also retired. This particular race was one of four time-limited races on the 1970 calendar; the others being at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. It was the only 6 hour race on the calendar in 1970, with the winner covering 1140km. There were five 1000km races, lasting over 4 to nearly 7 hours depending on track and weather, and the 1970 Targa Florio had 11 laps for 792 km in 6:35 hours. Qualifying once again went to a Porsche; the Gulf-Wyer Jo Siffert/Brian Redman 917K managed to edge out the Andretti/Giunti Ferrari 512S and the Rodriguez/Kinnunen 917K by three tenths of a second. A pair of blue and white-striped Porsche Salzburg 917K were entered as Porsche Audi Division, while Martini Racing showed another blue-green Hippie car design, this time on the #35 917K. This would be the last Watkins Glen 6 Hours race on the original circuit. The circuit was rebuilt for the next year; they used the short track (as the extension had not yet been finished) and the whole track in 1972. Race At the start, Andretti took the lead from Siffert, but the Swiss driver took the lead back from Andretti on the third lap. He then lost the lead to Rodriguez. Later on in the race, Rodriguez attempted to switch off the 917K's headlights; but instead he switched off the fuel pumps, and the engine started to fail. Rodriguez was about to come into the pits, but then he realized what he had done, switched the pumps on, and then stormed through the field, made fastest lap and he & Kinnunen went on to win for the 4th time in the season. Wyer's team finished 1-2, and both cars finished on the same lap, with the works Ferrari of Andretti/Giunti completing the podium. Official results Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps 1 S5.0 2 United Kingdom John Wyer Automotive Engineering Mexico Pedro RodríguezFinland Leo Kinnunen Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 308 2 S5.0 1 United Kingdom John Wyer Automotive Engineering Switzerland Jo SiffertUnited Kingdom Brian Redman Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 308 3 S5.0 92 Italy SpA Ferrari SEFAC United States Mario AndrettiItaly Ignazio Giunti Ferrari 512S Spyder Ferrari 5.0L V12 305 4 S5.0 31 United States Porsche-Audi USA United Kingdom Vic ElfordNew Zealand Denny Hulme Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 302 5 S5.0 91 Italy SpA Ferrari SEFAC Belgium Jacky IckxSwitzerland Peter Schetty Ferrari 512S Spyder Ferrari 5.0L V12 298 6 S5.0 32 United States Porsche-Audi USA United Kingdom Richard AttwoodGermany Kurt Ahrens Jr. Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 295 7 P3.0 36 Germany Martini International Racing Austria Helmut MarkoAustria Rudi Lins Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 288 8 S5.0 50 Sweden Ecurie Bonnier Sweden Jo BonnierSweden Reine Wisell Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 264 9 S5.0 35 Germany Martini International Racing Netherlands Gijs van LennepFrance Gérard Larrousse Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 260 10 GT+2.5 9 United States Bob Grossman United States Bob GrossmanUnited States Don Yenko Chevrolet Camaro 427 Chevrolet 7.0L V8 243 11 S2.0 52 United States Dr. Mervin Rosen United States Merv RosenUnited States Dick Jacobs Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 241 12 S2.0 53 United States Mike Rahal United States Hugh WiseUnited States Werner Frank Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 236 13 GT2.5 77 United States Bruce Jennings United States Bob TuillusUnited States Bruce Jennings Porsche 911T Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 233 14 GT2.5 41 United States Jim Bandy United States Jim BandyUnited States Bruce Cargill Lotus Europa Ford 1.6L I4 233 15 S2.0 39 Canada Rainer Brezinka Canada Rainer BrezinkaCanada Horst PetermannCanada Rudy Bartling Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 231 16 GT2.0 84 United States Ralph Meaney United States Gary WrightUnited States Francis C. Grant Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 223 17 P2.0 46 United States Jim Baker United States Wayne ChristianUnited States Charles ReynoldsUnited States Bobby Rinzler Chevron B16 Ford 1.8L I4 223 18 GT2.5 70 France Sylvain Garant Switzerland André WickyFrance Sylvain Garant Porsche 911T Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 217 19 P2.0 46 United States Jim Baker United States Paul RichardsUnited States Jim Baker Chevron B16 Ford 1.8L I4 206 20 GT2.5 94 United States Ralph Meaney United States Ralph MeaneyUnited States Stephen Behr Porsche 914/6 GT Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 181 Did Not Finish Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps GT+2.5 20 United States John Greenwood United States Allan BarkerUnited States John Greenwood Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 116 GT2.5 37 Canada Sunoco Canada Canada Jacques DuvalCanada George Nicholas Porsche 911T Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 92 GT+2.5 63 United States Robert Luebbe United States Robert LuebbeUnited States Michael Summers Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 85 S5.0 33 Germany Georg Loos Germany Georg LoosGermany Franz Pesch Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 24 GT+2.5 63 United States William A. Schumacher United States Bill SchumacherUnited States Robert R. Johnson Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 8 P3.0 53 United Kingdom A. G. Dean Ltd. United Kingdom Tony DeanUnited States Peter Revson Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 3 Statistics Pole position: #1 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 917K (Jo Siffert/Brian Redman) - 1:06.3 (127.581 mph/205.322 km/h) Fastest lap: #2 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 917K (Pedro Rodriguez)- 1:04.9 (124.833 mph/200.898 km/h) Time taken for winning car to cover scheduled distance: 6 hours and 47.7 seconds Average Speed: 189.592 km/h (117.807 mph) Weather conditions: Sunny References 1970 World Sportscar Championship 24 Hours of Le Mans Austrian 1000km Watkins Glen Watkins Glen Category:Motorsport competitions in New York (state) Category:6 Hours of Watkins Glen