Zandvoort – The Dutch Grand Prix

25th August 1979

The seventh race in the Procar series took place in Zandvoort and was staged over 20 laps at 4.226 km each. The winner mastered the race distance of 84.52 km at an average speed of 160.125 km/h.

The penultimate race of the Procar series in Zandvoort was characterised by mad hectic and ruthless battles. Due to a rain shower, the race had to be interrupted after 5 laps (order: Regazzoni, Jones, Stuck, Lauda, Winkelhock, Laffite). After a mistake by Alan Jones, Hans-Joachim Stuck won in the second half of 15 laps and also was ahead in the addition.

Like in the old days, Hans Stuck took pole position with a lead of more than 1 second over Markus Höttinger and Manfred Winkelhock. Only the F1 addicts, Regazzoni , Jones, Laffite, Lauda and Piquet were ahead of the tall Bavarian, due to their practice time from Friday.

17 M1s competed until the 20th lap. Already during the 5th lap a downpour caused the race to be interrupted. The final 15 laps were resumed after a 45-minute break. However, a number of drivers were absent by then. Höttinger eliminated Nelson Piquet in lap 3. Höttinger after the race: “Completely my fault”. Elio de Angelis took out Dutchman, Michael Bleekemolen, who like Bürger was provided with a team car for the final two races. Niki Lauda seriously damaged his M1 during the warm up – that took place for the second time in Austria – in a chicane. In a feat, the mechanics were able to repair the car and Lauda was able to compete, however, electrical problems prevented him from continuing in the second part of the race, following the break during the rain. Soon afterwards, Jones – who was leading – and his Williams team colleague Reutemann were “sniffed” by Stuck, Winkelhock and Laffite. Following Laffite’s turn, Stuck and Winkelhock delivered a sensational duel. 5 laps later, Jacques Laffite had fought his way forward again and overtook Winkelhock. The Swabian driver lost further ground, meaning Marc Surer was able to catch up. With a difference of centimetres between them, the two ex-BMW juniors presented impressive motorsports. “Procar” boss Jochen Neerpasch beamed: “That was an amazing race, like out of a textbook.”

The race result

Zandvoort – The Dutch 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	20	31:40,214	1:31,384
2	26	Jacques Laffite	F	BMW Motorsport	20	31:46,714	1:17,129
3	81	Manfred Winkelhock	D	WinkelhockRacing	20	31:49,160	1:32,420
4	71	Marc Surer	CH	BMW Schweiz	20	31:57,251	1:32,635
5	28	Clay Regazzoni	CH	BMW Motorsport	20	31:58,742	1:16,136
6	99	Toine Hezemans	NL	BMW Nederland	20	32:09,699	1:33,133
7	50	Dieter Quester	A	Tom Walkinshaw	20	32:19,038	1:34,220
8	27	Alan Jones	AUS	BMW Motorsport	20	32:28,675	1:16,883
9	66	Helmut Kelleners	D	Eggenberger	20	32:41,808	1:35,528
10	80	Jean-Louis Lafosse	F	BMW France	20	33:02,132	1:34,905
11	45	Sepp Manhalter	A	Schnitzer			16.
	5	Niki Lauda	A	Project four Racing		dit not finish	1:17,665
	6	Nelson Piquet	BR	BMW Motorsport		dit not finish	1:17,821
	44	Markus Höttinger	A	Dr.Helmut Marko		dit not finish	1:32,372
	70	Elio de Angelis	I	BMW Italia		dit not finish	1:33,819
	90	Michael Bleekemolen	NL	BMW Motorsport		dit not finish	1:33,977
	41	Wolfgang Schütz	D	Schütz Racing		dit not finish	17.