1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours

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.[1]

Pre-race

John Wyer's team had not won a race since Spa and they came off a disastrous attempt at winning Le Mans; losing all three of their cars in 10 hours and the race to their sister team, Porsche Salzburg. 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 humiliating 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 4 timed races on the calendar; the others being at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. It was the only 6 hour race on the calendar in 1970.

Qualifying once again went to a Porsche; the 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.

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

Watkins Glen in 1970
The Martini Racing blue and green "psychedelic" livery on a 1970 917K, as raced at Watkins Glen in 1970.
Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
1 S
5.0
2 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Pedro Rodríguez
Leo Kinnunen
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 308
2 S
5.0
1 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Jo Siffert
Brian Redman
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 308
3 S
5.0
92 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Mario Andretti
Ignazio Giunti
Ferrari 512S Spyder Ferrari 5.0L V12 305
4 S
5.0
31 Porsche-Audi USA Vic Elford
Denny Hulme
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 302
5 S
5.0
91 SpA Ferrari SEFAC Jacky Ickx
Peter Schetty
Ferrari 512S Spyder Ferrari 5.0L V12 298
6 S
5.0
32 Porsche-Audi USA Richard Attwood
Kurt Ahrens, Jr.
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 295
7 P
3.0
36 Martini International Racing Helmut Marko
Rudi Lins
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 288
8 S
5.0
50 Ecurie Bonnier Jo Bonnier
Reine Wisell
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 264
9 S
5.0
35 Martini International Racing Gijs van Lennep
Gérard Larrousse
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 260
10 GT
+2.5
9 Bob Grossman Bob Grossman
Don Yenko
Chevrolet Camaro 427 Chevrolet 7.0L V8 243
11 S
2.0
52 Dr. Mervin Rosen Merv Rosen
Dick Jacobs
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 241
12 S
2.0
53 Mike Rahal Hugh Wise
Werner Frank
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 236
13 GT
2.5
77 Bruce Jennings Bob Tuillus
Bruce Jennings
Porsche 911T Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 233
14 GT
2.5
41 Jim Bandy Jim Bandy
Bruce Cargill
Lotus Europa Ford 1.6L I4 233
15 S
2.0
39 Rainer Brezinka Rainer Brezinka
Horst Petermann
Rudy Bartling
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 231
16 GT
2.0
84 Ralph Meaney Gary Wright
Francis C. Grant
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 223
17 P
2.0
46 Jim Baker Wayne Christian
Charles Reynolds
Bobby Rinzler
Chevron B16 Ford 1.8L I4 223
18 GT
2.5
70 Sylvain Garant Andre Wicky
Sylvain Garant
Porsche 911T Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 217
19 P
2.0
46 Jim Baker Paul Richards
Jim Baker
Chevron B16 Ford 1.8L I4 206
20 GT
2.5
94 Ralph Meaney Ralph Meaney
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 John Greenwood Allan Barker
John Greenwood
Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 116
GT
2.5
37 Sunoco Canada Jacques Duval
George Nicholas
Porsche 911T Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 92
GT
+2.5
63 Robert Luebbe Robert Luebbe
Michael Summers
Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 85
S
5.0
33 Georg Loos Georg Loos
Franz Pesch
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 24
GT
+2.5
63 William A. Schumacher Bill Schumacher
Robert R. Johnson
Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 8
P
3.0
53 A. G. Dean Ltd. Tony Dean
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

World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
24 Hours of Le Mans
1970 season Next race:
Austrian 1000km
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