Dijon – The French Grand Prix

Dijon – The French Grand Prix

30th June 1979

The third Procar series race at the French Grand Prix A good start to finish victory by Nelson Piquet; from start to finish the order remained: Piquet, Jones, Pironi. Following a poor start, Lauda finished behind Stuck in 8th place. The best non-Formula 1 driver was Marc Surer, who overtook Clay Regazzoni in the final stages.

Jean-Marie Balestre – track manager and race director – didn’t want to allow the BMW M1 to compete, however he had to give in to pressure from Bernie Ecclestone. However, no support was provided by officials, no fuel was provided for the BMW M1 at the garage in the paddocks and no official time recordings were made during practice or the race.

The race result

Dijon – The French Grand Prix

BMW works cars in BMW M design
Blue text = F1 driver – Red time = F1 driver

Pos. # Name Nat. Team Laps Time T-Time
1 6 Nelson Piquet BR BMW Motorsport 20 1:08,73
2 27 Alan Jones AUS BMW Motorsport 20 1:08,27
3 3 Didier Pironi F BMW Motorsport 20 1:08,95
4 71 Marc Surer CH BMW Schweiz 20 1:24,87
5 28 Clay Regazzoni CH BMW Motorsport 20 1:09,01
6 81 Jean-Pierre Beltoise F BMW France 20 1:25,48
7 77 Hans-Joachim Stuck D Cassani Racing 20 1:25,46
8 5 Niki Lauda A N.Lauda 20 1:09,40
9 99 Toine Hezemans NL BMW Nederland 20 1:26,93
10 70 Bruno Giacomelli I Osella 20 1:26,67
11 44 Markus Höttinger A Dr.Helmut Marko 20 1:26,51
12 41 Wolfgang Schütz D Schütz Racing 20 1:26,23
13 66 Helmut Kelleners D Eggenberger 20 1:26,52
14 50 Dieter Quester A Tom Walkinshaw 20 18.
15 88 Franz Konrad A Konrad Racing 20 1:27,50
16 61 Walter Brun CH Schnitzer / Brun 20 1:27,59
17 45 Sepp Manhalter A Schnitzer 19 1:29,16
18 80 Jean-Louis Lafosse F BMW France 17 1:25,65

Donington “Gunnar-Nillson-Trophy”

On 3rd June 1979, Nelson Piquet gave a masterful performance in the “Gunnar Nillson Trophy” (Cancer help) – a Procar invitation race in Donington, not counting towards the championship. The Brazilian not only showed his Formula 1 colleagues John Watson, Alan Jones, James Hunt and Mario Andretti who’s boss, but also numerous private drivers, of whom Toine Hezemans was the fast during the practice laps.

The race result

Donington „Gunnar-Nillson-Trophy“

BMW works cars in BMW M design
Blue text = F1 driver – Red time = F1 driver

Pos. # Name Nat. Team Laps Time T-Time
1 6 Nelson Piquet BR BMW Motorsport 30 37:49,44
2 70 Bruno Giacomelli I BMW Italia 30 37:52,39 1:13,37
3 81 Manfred Winkelhock D Winkelhock Racing 30 37:57,41 1:13,76
4 77 Hans-Joachim Stuck D Cassani Racing 30 1:13,50
5 99 Toine Hezemans NL BMW Nederland 30 1:13,14
6 66 Helmut Kelleners D Eggenberger 30 1:14,12
7 50 Dieter Quester A Tom Walkinshaw 30 1:15,04
8 51 Tom Walkinshaw GB Tom Walkinshaw 30 1:14,24
9 71 David Hobbs GB BMW Schweiz 30 1:15,32
10 70 Elio de Angelis I Osella 30 1:15,44
11 41 Wolfgang Schütz D Schütz Racing 1:15,44
12 88 Franz Konrad A Konrad Racing 1:15,20
13 7 John Watson GB BMW Motorsport
14 1 Mario Andretti USA BMW Motorsport
27 Alan Jones AUS BMW Motorsport dit not finish
20 James Hunt GB BMW Motorsport dit not finish

The races of the 1979 season