Monza – The Italian Grand Prix
8th September 1979
The eighth and final race in the Procar series took place in Monza and was staged over 18 laps at 5.8 km each. The winner mastered the race distance of 104.4 km at an average speed of 181.711 km/h.
Hans-Joachim Stuck is the king of BMW M1. In Monza, both during practice as well as during the race, he downgraded his competitors to extras and was classed as the best private driver in the final ranking. Niki Lauda was the overall champion, as Regazzoni and all of the other drivers in team cars fell by the wayside.
Lauda, Regazzoni and Stuck were all candidates to win the Procar series before the last race of the season. Hans Stuck, who got on increasingly better with the Cassani M1, was once again the fastest private driver during practice. This time F1 addicts Jones, Regazzoni, Lauda, Piquet and Andretti were ahead of him. 19 M1 racing cars competed. With a brilliant start, Stuck catapulted himself from a 3rd starting grid, passing several M1 team cars and in lap 3 overtaking the Regazzoni – who until then had been in the lead. Up until the finish line, “Strietzel” was able to pull away, giving himself a 20 second lead. Unlucky for him, Niki Lauda came in 2nd place. Niki gained 15 points, proving sufficient for him to win the 1979 Procar series! Regazzoni, at that time in 2nd place had to withdraw in the 6th lap due to engine trouble – as did Alan Jones later in the race, due to the same problem. Piquet and Winkelhock also went home empty handed.
Niki Lauda and/or his F1 team manager, Bernie Ecclestone received a brand new BMW M1, as did Hans Stuck as best private driver and/or his manager Manfred Cassani. Regazzoni and/or Frank Williams, as well as Markus Höttinger received a BMW 528i each for 2nd place; Piquet – thus Ecclestone again – and Toine Hezemans received a BMW 323i for 3rd place.
In an interview, Jochen Neerpasch said: “The Procar series more than fulfilled our expectations!”
The race result
Monza – The Italian 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 | 77 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | D | Cassani Racing | 18 | 34:28,33 | 1:52,68 |
| 2 | 5 | Niki Lauda | A | Project four Racing | 18 | 34:48,38 | 1:36,219 |
| 3 | 44 | Markus Höttinger | A | Dr.Helmut Marko | 18 | 34:54,52 | 1:55,86 |
| 4 | 66 | Helmut Kelleners | D | Eggenberger | 18 | 35:08,49 | 1:54,05 |
| 5 | 99 | Toine Hezemans | NL | BMW Nederland | 18 | 35:11,43 | 1:55,31 |
| 6 | 41 | Wolfgang Schütz | D | Schütz Racing | 18 | 35:13,44 | 1:56,74 |
| 7 | 50 | Dieter Quester | A | Tom Walkinshaw | 18 | 35:13,78 | 1:55,48 |
| 8 | 61 | Walter Brun | CH | Schnitzer / Brun | 18 | 36:04,40 | 1:58,25 |
| 9 | 45 | Sepp Manhalter | A | Schnitzer | 18 | 36:20,15 | 1:57,71 |
| 81 | Manfred Winkelhock | D | Winkelhock Racing | dit not finish | 1:53,90 | ||
| 6 | Nelson Piquet | BR | BMW Motorsport | dit not finish | 1:36,389 | ||
| 28 | Clay Regazzoni | CH | BMW Motorsport | dit not finish | 1:35,339 | ||
| 27 | Alan Jones | AUS | BMW Motorsport | dit not finish | 1:34,982 | ||
| 70 | Bruno Giacomelli | I | BMW Italia | dit not finish | 1:55,11 | ||
| 1 | Mario Andretti | USA | BMW Motorsport | dit not finish | 1:36,708 | ||
| 90 | Teo Fabi | I | BMW Motorsport | dit not finish | 1:55,09 | ||
| 71 | Marc Surer | CH | BMW Schweiz | dit not finish | 1:54,15 | ||
| 80 | Jean Louis Lafosse | F | BMW France | dit not finish | 1:56,30 | ||
| 60 | Elio de Angelis | I | Osella | dit not finish | 2:04,50 |
