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1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours

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Track map of Watkins Glen International (1956-1970)

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

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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

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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

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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 United Kingdom John Wyer Automotive Engineering Mexico Pedro Rodríguez
Finland Leo Kinnunen
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 308
2 S
5.0
1 United Kingdom John Wyer Automotive Engineering Switzerland Jo Siffert
United Kingdom Brian Redman
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 308
3 S
5.0
92 Italy SpA Ferrari SEFAC United States Mario Andretti
Italy Ignazio Giunti
Ferrari 512S Spyder Ferrari 5.0L V12 305
4 S
5.0
31 United States Porsche-Audi USA United Kingdom Vic Elford
New Zealand Denny Hulme
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 302
5 S
5.0
91 Italy SpA Ferrari SEFAC Belgium Jacky Ickx
Switzerland Peter Schetty
Ferrari 512S Spyder Ferrari 5.0L V12 298
6 S
5.0
32 United States Porsche-Audi USA United Kingdom Richard Attwood
Germany Kurt Ahrens Jr.
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.9L Flat-12 295
7 P
3.0
36 Germany Martini International Racing Austria Helmut Marko
Austria Rudi Lins
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 288
8 S
5.0
50 Sweden Ecurie Bonnier Sweden Jo Bonnier
Sweden Reine Wisell
Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet 5.0L V8 264
9 S
5.0
35 Germany Martini International Racing Netherlands Gijs van Lennep
France Gérard Larrousse
Porsche 917K Porsche 4.5L Flat-12 260
10 GT
+2.5
9 United States Bob Grossman United States Bob Grossman
United States Don Yenko
Chevrolet Camaro 427 Chevrolet 7.0L V8 243
11 S
2.0
52 United States Dr. Mervin Rosen United States Merv Rosen
United States Dick Jacobs
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 241
12 S
2.0
53 United States Mike Rahal United States Hugh Wise
United States Werner Frank
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 236
13 GT
2.5
77 United States Bruce Jennings United States Bob Tuillus
United States Bruce Jennings
Porsche 911T Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 233
14 GT
2.5
41 United States Jim Bandy United States Jim Bandy
United States Bruce Cargill
Lotus Europa Ford 1.6L I4 233
15 S
2.0
39 Canada Rainer Brezinka Canada Rainer Brezinka
Canada Horst Petermann
Canada Rudy Bartling
Porsche 906 Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 231
16 GT
2.0
84 United States Ralph Meaney United States Gary Wright
United States Francis C. Grant
Porsche 911S Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 223
17 P
2.0
46 United States Jim Baker United States Wayne Christian
United States Charles Reynolds
United States Bobby Rinzler
Chevron B16 Ford 1.8L I4 223
18 GT
2.5
70 France Sylvain Garant Switzerland Andre Wicky
France Sylvain Garant
Porsche 911T Porsche 2.2L Flat-6 217
19 P
2.0
46 United States Jim Baker United States Paul Richards
United States Jim Baker
Chevron B16 Ford 1.8L I4 206
20 GT
2.5
94 United States Ralph Meaney United States Ralph Meaney
United States Stephen Behr
Porsche 914/6 GT Porsche 1.9L Flat-6 181

Did Not Finish

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Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Laps
GT
+2.5
20 United States John Greenwood United States Allan Barker
United States John Greenwood
Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 116
GT
2.5
37 Canada Sunoco Canada Canada Jacques Duval
Canada George Nicholas
Porsche 911T Porsche 2.0L Flat-6 92
GT
+2.5
63 United States Robert Luebbe United States Robert Luebbe
United States Michael Summers
Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 85
S
5.0
33 Germany Georg Loos Germany Georg Loos
Germany Franz Pesch
Ferrari 512S Ferrari 5.0L V12 24
GT
+2.5
63 United States William A. Schumacher United States Bill Schumacher
United States Robert R. Johnson
Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet 7.0L V8 8
P
3.0
53 United Kingdom A. G. Dean Ltd. United Kingdom Tony Dean
United States Peter Revson
Porsche 908/02 Porsche 3.0L Flat-8 3

Statistics

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  • 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

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