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Grosser Preis der Tourenwagen 1973

Nürburgring Nordschleife, BRD

Date: 8/7/1973
Track length: 22.835 m
Attendance: 80.000
Entries accepted: unknown
Starters: 74
Finishers: unknown

Pole position: Lauda in 8.17,8
Fastest lap: Lauda in 8.21,3 = 164,0 kmh

Distance: 6 hours
Average speed: 158,5 kmh
Weather: cloudy but warm
Ruleset: Group 2/70
Car info: 1973 Cars

Pictures

The home race for all teams - with a crowded entry list and a little news. BMW had managed to homologate a new version of the CSL, sporting a new crankshaft, enabling a full 3.5 litre and an aerodynamic package which was little short of a sensation. At once, the Capris were nearly reduced to also-rans.
Practice saw Lauda/Joisten and Amon/Stuck fastest, followed by the Capri’s of Glemser/Mass, Stewart/Fittipaldi and Larrousse/Fitzpatrick. Then Hezemans/Quester, Brambilla/Pescarolo (Schnitzer) and Muir/Peltier (Alpina/Gartlan). The works BMWs used 3.3 litre engines but the tuners relied already on full 3.5 engines, without much problems.

BMW took the lead, apart from a short spell when Mass took over. Drama for Ford after 12 laps, when Glemser crashed out because of steering failure, getting injured in the process. Five laps later Fittipaldi came in to retire, blue clouds emerging from the engine compartment, complaining that he could not find second gear anymore. Mass was moved to the Fitzpatrick/Larrousse team (in second place), but Mini #108 touched the Capri when lapped, puncturing its tire. Jochen undid his seat belts to inspect the damage, but did too much at once (curse, inspect, signalling another car to pass, and drive of course) and left the road, spun and rolled the car in slow motion, finishing a dreadful day for Ford in style. Mini #108 crashed out six minutes before the end, relieving Jochen from the task to damage the car himself.

After the loss of the works car, there should have been Fritzinger to fight the BMWs. His ex-works car had received works driver Heyer and a fresh engine, and they were as high as second when Mass dropped out. But front suspension damage moved the car back tot tenth in the end. Highest placed Ford became the Grab car of Weiss and a young guy called Klaus Ludwig.

Stuck/Amon won, the second BMW works car was second in the end. Lauda, happily playing with the radio in his Alpina car, was third in the end after lengthy suspension- and wheel bearing problems dropped it back from a long lead. Muir/Peltier retired, like the single Schnitzer car.

A surprise class win for Alfa Romeo, old faithful came in fourth. All 16-valve GS and Koepchen 2002’s retired like the only Escort RS in the field, leaving only the Schnitzer 2002 as opposition, but this was hampered by gear linkage problems.
Another surprise was the Swiss 1600 cc Toyota Celica, sixth in the end.

Division 1 and 2
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out
1 1 12 BMW Motorsport
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Hans-Joachim Stuck, D
Chris Amon, NZ
 3303 L6 Div. 2 42 laps, 6:03.06,5 2 8.20,4    
2 2 10 BMW Motorsport
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Toine Hezemans, NL
Dieter Quester, A
Harald Menzel, D
 3303 L6 Div. 2 41 laps, 6:06.27,6 6 8.28,7    
3 3 15 Jägermeister-Alpina
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Hans-Peter Joisten, D
Niki Lauda, A
 3498 L6 Div. 2 38 laps, 6:01.34,0 1 8.17,8    
4 1 26 Autodelta S.p.A.
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm		 Spartaco Dini ("Paco"), I
Carlo Facetti, I
Luigi Colzani, I
 1999 L4 Div. 1 38 laps, 6:02.14,9 15 9.05,1    
5 4 6 Grab Ford Siegen
Ford Capri RS 2600		 Karl-Ludwig Weiss, D
Klaus Ludwig, D
 2940 V6 Div. 2 38 laps, 6:04.23,5 18 9.14,6    
6 2 61 Toyota AG Schweiz
Toyota Celica GT		 Ove Andersson, S
Freddy Kottulinsky, S
 1588 L4 Div. 1 38 laps, 6:07.47,4 20 9.30,5    
7 3 30 Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 2002		 Albrecht Krebs, D
Harald Ertl, A
 1990 L4 Div. 1 37 laps, 6:03.37,7 12 9.03,2    
8 4 27 Autodelta S.p.A.
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm		 Massimo Larini, I
Teodoro Zeccoli, I
 1999 L4 Div. 1 37 laps, 6:07.08,3 21 9.30,9    
9 5 71  
BMW 1602		 Dieter Hegels, D
Karl-Heinz Tibor, D
(Piet-Jürgen Verbrüggen)
 1600 L4 Div. 1 36 laps, 6:03.46,1        
10 5 9 Team Europa-Möbel
Ford Capri RS 2600		 Klaus Fritzinger, D
Hans Heyer, D
(Werner Schommers, D)
 2940 V6 Div. 2 36 laps, 6:09.49,7 9 8.40,8    
CL (1) 93 H. H. Stahlberg
Alfa Romeo 1300 GTA Junior		 Dieter Meyer, D
Hans H. Stahlberg, D
Michael Bischoff, D
 1290 L4 Div. 1 35        
CL (2) 94 DNRT Marlboro Team
Simca Rallye 2		 Jim Vermeulen, NL
Arthur van Dedem, NL
 1294? L4 Div. 1 32        
CL (1)   Reppekus
Fiat 128		 Friedhelm Croes, D
Rainer Orbach, D
 1148 L4 Div. 1 33        
CL (1) 112  
NSU 1000 TTS		 Günter Bobach, D
Robert Hansen, D
 996 L4 Div. 1 28        
    39  
BMW 2002 TI		 Edmund Gastes, D
Klaus Arendt, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    44 MSC Paffrath
BMW 2002 TI		 Richard Bremmekamp, D
Wolfgang Fischer, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    45  
BMW 2002 TI		 Hans-Lothar Koch, D
Hans-Joachim Goerke, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    48 Koepchen BMW Tuning
BMW 2002		 Heinrich Hirth, D
Günther Mohrs, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    17 Herbert Müller Racing
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Walter Brun, CH
Cox Kocher, CH
   L6 Div. 2   14 9.05,0    
    29 Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 2002		 Jörg Obermoser, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    33 GS Tuning
BMW 2002		 Manfred Reeb, D
Elmar Helmut Clever, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    38  
BMW 2002		 Lothar Wagner, D
Eckard Babendenderde, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    50  
BMW 2002		 Karl Richter, D
Kurt Fuchs, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1   22 9.38,3    
    51  
BMW 2002 TI		 Wolfgang Dimmendaal, D
Emil Dimmendaal, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    52  
BMW 2002		 Richard Peitz, D
Thomas Betzler, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    55 Reppekus
BMW 2002 TI		 Horst Bonefeld, D
Rainer Zweibäumer, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    59 Faltz-Alpina Essen
BMW 2002 TI		 Rolf Rummel, D
Karl-Heinz Hintz, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1          
    62 Faltz-Alpina Essen
BMW 1600		 Günther Scherf, D
Wilhelm Urlbauer, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    63 Rheydter Club für Motorsport
BMW 1602		 Walter Prüser, D
Friedhelm Theissen, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    64 MSC Münster
BMW 1600/2		 Siegfried Kagelmann, D
Hans Riering, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    65  
BMW 1600/2		 Hans Dittgen, D
Walter Becker, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    66  
BMW 1600		 Heribert Thelen, D
Franz Lotzen, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    68 Sportfahrer Gemeinschaft Köln
BMW 1602		 Heiner Müller, D
Friedhelm Przyklenk, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    73 Matthes racing GmbH
BMW 1600		 Knut Jäger, D
Jörg Denzel, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    74  
BMW 1600		 Girolamo Capra, I
Angelo Lepri, I
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    75 Team Europa-Möbel
BMW 1602		 Helmut Lenz, D
Helmut Döring, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    76 Scuderia Vesuvio
BMW 1600		 Cosimo Turizio, I
Ciro Nappi, I
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    77 Motorclub Nordrhein
BMW 1600		 Ernst Jüntgen, D
Rolf Kienen, D
 1573 L4 Div. 1          
    67 Autohaus Kaufmann OHG
VW 1302 S		 Dieter Götting, D
Werner Rohr, D
 1584 B4 Div. 1          
    90  
NSU 1200 TT		 Heinz Schindler, D
Wernbach, D
 1296 L4 Div. 1          
    97 Reppekus Tuning Essen
Fiat 128 coupé 1300		 Michael Franz, D
Hans Stuckenbrock, D
 1290 L4 Div. 1          
       
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Hartmut Kautz, D
Thomas Betzler, D
 1975 L4 Div. 1   17 9.13,6    
    106  
Abarth 1000 TCR		 Horst Ranke, D
Eckhard Casteel, D
 982 L4 Div. 1          
    107  
Sunbeam Imp		 Detlef Hendricks, D
Peter Wiechert, D
 998 L4 Div. 1          
    92 Alfa Romeo Deutschland
Alfa Romeo 1300 GTA Junior		 Hans Hessel, D
Hartwig Bertrams, D
 1290 L4 Div. 1          
    32 Zakspeed RTL
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Helmut Koinigg, A
Hans Heyer, D
 1975 L4 Div. 1          
    19 Martini BMW
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Heinz Becker, D
Werner Scheid, D
   L6 Div. 2   19 9.25,7    
DNF   16 Team Schnitzer Motul
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Vittorio Brambilla, I
Henri Pescarolo, F
(Arturo Merzario, I)
 3498 L6 Div. 2   7 8.31,4   Accident
DNF   2 Ford Köln
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
Gérard Larrousse, F
Jochen Mass, D
 2983 V6 Div. 2   5 8.27,9   Accident
DNF   1 Ford Köln
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 Jackie Stewart, GB
Emerson Fittipaldi, BR
 2983 V6 Div. 2 17 4 8.27,5   Engine overreved
DNF   3 Ford Köln
Ford Capri RS 2600 LW		 Dieter Glemser, D
Jochen Mass, D
 2983 V6 Div. 2 12 3 8.23,0   Accident
DNF   42 GS Tuning
BMW 2002		 Dieter Basche, D
Manfred Mohr, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1 ca. 7 10 8.55,4   Suspension
DNF   4  
Ford Capri RS 2600		 Jaime Mesia, E
Alberto Ruiz Gimenez, E
 2900? V6 Div. 2   16 9.09,4   Engine
DNF   108 Quadriga Treverorum
Morris Mini Cooper S		 Horst Zimmer, D
Harald Zimmer, D
 1293 L4 Div. 1         Accident
DNF   28 Autodelta S.p.A.
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTAm		 Rolf Stommelen, D
Carlo Facetti, I
 1999 L4 Div. 1 38        
DNF   31 Zakspeed RTL
Ford Escort RS 1600		 Werner Schommers, D
Helmut Koinigg, A
(Hartmut Kautz, D)
 1975 L4 Div. 1   11 8.56,1   Suspension
DNF   58 Koepchen BMW Tuning
BMW 2002		 Helmut Kelleners, D
Günther Steckkönig, D
 1990 L4 Div. 1   13 9.05,0   Gearbox
DNF   14 Malcolm Gartlan/ Jägermeister-Alpina
BMW 3.0 CSL		 Brian Muir, AUS
Alain Peltier, B
 3498 L6 Div. 2   8 8.39,3   Piston