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 |
