Motor car race
The
Jochen Rindt Memorial
(German:
Jochen Rindt Gedachtnisrennen
) or the
VI Rhein-Pokalrennen
was a
motor race
, run to
Formula One
rules, held on 13 June 1971 at the
Hockenheimring
,
Germany
. The race was run over 35 laps of the circuit, and was dominated by Belgian driver
Jacky Ickx
in a
Ferrari
312B
.
The race was arranged after the
Belgian Grand Prix
of 1971 was cancelled, in order to fill the gap between the
Monaco Grand Prix
and the
Dutch Grand Prix
. The
German Grand Prix
had returned to the
Nurburgring
, so the Hockenheim circuit was chosen for the race, which was also a memorial race for
Jochen Rindt
, the reigning World Champion who had been killed at the
1970 Italian Grand Prix
.
On the same weekend, the
1971 24 Hours of Le Mans
was being held, so several of the regular Formula One drivers were absent from this race, including
Chris Amon
,
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
,
Henri Pescarolo
,
Pedro Rodriguez
and
Jo Siffert
. There were other absentees:
Jackie Stewart
and
Denny Hulme
were taking part in the Labatt's 200 Can-Am race, and
Emerson Fittipaldi
was recovering from a road accident. Of the regular Formula One teams,
Matra
were at Le Mans,
Brabham
were still repairing
Graham Hill
's car after an accident in Monaco, and
Tyrrell
elected not to take part.
Scuderia Ferrari
had entered a car for
Mario Andretti
, but had originally been scheduled for a USAC Championship Trail race at
Langhorne Speedway
that was cancelled ten days prior and was recovering from burns from a methanol fire at the
Rex Mays 150
at
The Milwaukee Mile
.
As a tribute to Rindt, pole position on the grid was left vacant, leaving polesitter Ickx alone on the front row, taking the second slot.
[2]
Qualifying
[
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]
The practice sessions were dominated by the Ferraris, with Ickx lapping comfortably faster than he had done on his last visit to the circuit, for the
1970 German Grand Prix
. The gas turbine
Lotus 56B
of
Dave Walker
suffered an engine fire during practice, and Walker took over
Tony Trimmer
's car for the race.
Robert Lamplough
and
Bernd Terbeck
were driving old
BRMs
recently bought from the factory, and although Lamplough qualified his
P133
relatively well, Terbeck's even older
P126
blew its engine and he was unable to start the race.
[2]
Race
[
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]
Ickx started well and pulled away from team-mate
Clay Regazzoni
in second, with
Ronnie Peterson
following behind. Ickx stayed in front for the whole race, although Regazzoni stopped after three laps with a mechanical fault which ultimately cost him ten laps after a mechanic had to go out to fix it.
As the race continued,
Reine Wisell
passed Peterson and was catching Ickx when he pitted with brake problems. Wisell lost two laps while his brakes were bled. Peterson himself encountered a clutch fault and began to fall further behind Ickx.
Peter Gethin
retired on lap four with a broken throttle, and
John Miles
had to retire three laps later with an engine fault.
Ray Allen
dropped out at the back of the field with a fuel leak on lap 15.
By this time,
John Surtees
had passed
Howden Ganley
for third, with
Nanni Galli
's ailing
March
in fifth.
Rolf Stommelen
missed a chicane while racing with Walker and
Skip Barber
, and the German was later given a one-minute penalty for this transgression. At the chequered flag, Ickx finished almost a minute ahead of Peterson, with Surtees over 20 seconds behind the Swede.
[2]
Results
[
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]
- Stommelen finished sixth on the track, but was penalised one minute for missing the chicane, demoting him to seventh.
References
[
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]