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1977 Mugello WMC 
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Daytona 24 hours

Daytona International Speedway (Road course), Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

Date: 5/2/1977 to: 6/2/1977
Track length: 6.180 m
Attendance:
Entries accepted: 73
Starters: 57
Finishers: 24, 17 classified

Pole position: Mass in 1.48,289 = 205,446 kmh
Fastest lap: Ickx in 1.52,004 = 198,632 kmh

Distance: 24 hours
Average speed: 175,095 kmh
Weather: Warm and dry
Ruleset: Group 5, IMSA GT
Car info: 1977 Cars

 

A one-two between the World Makes Championship and IMSA was the start of the 1977 season. But only a small fraction of the field (and the prize money!) was Group 5.
WMC entries were Porsche, of course, with their Martini car, unchanged from 1976, and 2 new customer cars, one for Kremer, one for Jolly Club. Apart from various other Porsches, mostly IMSA cars, the main opposition came from BMW: one of the new 320’s was entered, without serious change to challenge the Porsche.
As expected, the 935’s occupied the front row, the second row was formed by the two Inaltera prototypes, then the Jolly Club 935 and the 1974 Carrera Prototype of Ongais, Follmer and Field. The BMW CSL, 1976 winner, started ninth and the new works 320 started 19th.
Ickx took the lead after the start, followed by Wollek and Ongais - the latter challenging the leaders, even taking the lead - but soon the car fell back after a tire change, eventually retiring with a broken engine.
The works 320 ran like clockwork - until the 7th hour: clutch failure and subsequent engine failure.
Up front, the Martini and Kremer 935’s took it easy but the 934 of Gregg/Busby took big steps - Hezemans’ car of last year showed an impressive pace.
Then Mass left the road at the banked section - the right side of the car was damaged, and when the repairs were finished the car had dropped to 25th.
The Kremer car was in the lead now, and the Martini started to climb and was second again early Sunday morning. 90 minutes later, a tire exploded with Mass behind the wheel - the car was a write-off.
After 460 laps, the order was: the Kremer 935, the Haywood Carrera, the Jolly Club 935. Gregg/Busby had dropped back in the mean time, like the IMSA CSL.
But the leading Kremer 935 had its troubles too: the clutch gave up, and in the last part of the race only fourth gear was available. The Carrera took over and won, the Jolly Club car, driven very carefully (and with low boost!) from the start had lost too much time to be able to challenge the Carrera. The wounded Kremer car still finished third.


Overall result
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,
remarks
1 1 43 Dave Helmick
Porsche Carrera RSR
Hurley Haywood, USA
John Graves, USA
2994 B6 IMSA GT/Group 4? Div. 2 681 laps, 24:02.06.174 12 2.01,449    
2 1 3 Jolly Club
Porsche 935
Carlo Facetti, I
Martino Finotto, I
Romeo Camathias, I
2857 tc B6 Group 5/Div. 3 679 5 1.55,017    
3 2 8 Porsche Kremer
Porsche 935
Reinhold Jöst, D
Bob Wollek, F
Albrecht Krebs, D
2857 tc B6 Group 5/Div. 3 670 2 1.49,099    
4 2 30  
Porsche Carrera RSR
George Dyer, USA
Brad Frisselle, USA
2994 B6 IMSA GT/Group 4 Div. 2 663 21 2.04,410    
5 3 64 Ramsey Ferrari
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Elliot Forbes-Robinson, USA
Paul Newman, USA
Milt Minter, USA
4390 V12 IMSA GT/Group 5 Div. 3 631 22 2.05,059    
6 4 48  
Chevrolet Corvette
John Carusso, USA
Luis Sereix, USA
Emory Donaldson, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 628 34 2.12,359    
7 1 42  
Porsche 911 S
Robert Hindson, USA
Frank Carney, USA
Dick Davenport, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 624 31 2.11,208    
8 2 28  
Porsche 911 S
Richard Weiss, USA
Bill Alsup, USA
Ray Gage, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 596 41 2.19,223    
9 3 07  
Porsche 911 T
Charles Mendez, USA
Dave Cowart, USA
Dave Panaccione, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 591 37 2.13,918    
10 5 61 Brumos Porsche
Porsche 934
Peter Gregg, USA
Jim Busby, USA
2993 tc B6 IMSA GT 590 7 1.56,894    
11 4 60 Bond/Tilton
Porsche 911 S
Rusty Bond, USA
Ren Tilton, USA
John H. Thomas Jr, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 586 36 2.13,900    
12 5 27  
Porsche 911 S
Raymond Mummery, USA
Jack Refenning, USA
Ralph Noseda, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 581 51 no time    
13 6 58  
Porsche Carrera RSR
Diego Febles, PR
Armando Gonzalez, PR
Hiram Cruz, USA
2994 B6 IMSA GT 537 18 2.03,010    
14 7 73  
Chevrolet Corvette
Clark Howey, USA
David Crabtree, USA
Dale Koch, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 515 49 no time    
15 6 71 Foreign Exchange
Porsche 911
John Higgins, USA
Chip Mead, USA
David White, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 508 40 2.18,041    
16 8 6  
AMC Gremlin
Amos Johnson, USA
Dennis Shaw, USA
Steve Anderson, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 506 50 no time    
17 9 18  
Chevrolet Camaro
Jack Swanson, USA
Terry Wolters, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 484 45 2.22,582    
NC   02  
Chevrolet Corvette
Al Levenson, USA
Dan Rice, USA
Guido Levetto, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 475 44 2.22,579    
NC   77  
Chevrolet Corvette
Burt Greenwood, USA
Rick Mancuso, USA
John Cargill, USA
Dave Heinz, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 470 23 2.05,769    
NC   10 Race Car
Porsche 911 S
Marion L. Speer, USA
Windle Turley, USA
Hal Sahlman, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 464 33 2.12,294    
DNF   1 Martini Racing
Porsche 935
Jacky Ickx, B
Jochen Mass, D
(Jürgen Barth, D)
2857 tc B6 Group 5/Div. 3 452 1 1.48,289 1.52,004 Accident damage
NC   33  
Porsche 911
Ara Dube, USA
Harro Zitza, USA
Joe Castellano, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 441 46 2.23,033    
NC   50  
AMC Hornet
Tom Waugh, USA
John Rulon-Miller, USA
Bob Punch, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 394 52 no time    
NC   72  
Chevrolet Corvette
Bill Arnold, USA
Carl Thompson, USA
Billy Hagan, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 378 25 2.07,579    
DNF   34  
Porsche 911 S
George Drolsom, USA
Bill Scott, USA
Tom Bagley, USA
  B6 IMSA GTU 377 43 2.21,818    
DNF   47 Miller Brothers
BMW 3.0 CSL
John Fitzpatrick, GB
Kenper Miller, USA
Paul Miller, USA
3498 L6 IMSA GT/Group 5 Div. 3 368 9 1.58,042   Electrics
NC   13 University of Pittsburgh
AMC Gremlin
Bob Fryer, USA
Richard Bostyan, USA
Ed Lowther, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 366 53 no time    
DNF   9 Bytzek Brothers
Porsche Carrera RSR
Klaus Bytzek, CDN
Harry Bytzek, CDN
Rudi Bartling, CDN
2994 B6 IMSA GT 343 26 2.08,682    
DNF   20 Inaltera
Inaltera-Cosworth
Jean Rondeau, F
Jean-Pierre Beltoise, F
(Al Holbert, USA)
2990 V8 Group 6 336 3 1.52,720   Suspension
DNF   05  
Chevrolet Monza
Jim Trueman, USA
Jerry Thompson, USA
Don Yenko, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 300 10 1.59,728    
DNF   66 Ramsey Ferrari
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Tony Adamowicz, USA
John Cannon, CDN
Dick Barbour, USA
4390 V12 IMSA GT/Group 5 Div. 3 286 29 2.10,306    
DNF   96 Clay Young
Chevrolet Camaro
Gene Felton, USA
Buzz Cason, USA
James Reeve, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 251 14 2.02,487    
DNF   70 Michael Callas
Porsche Carrera RSR
Adrian Gang, USA
W.K. Gonzalez, USA
Tim Duke, USA
(Peter Papke, USA)
2994 B6 IMSA GT 247 30 2.10,715    
DNF   14  
Chevrolet Monza
Al Holbert, USA
Michael Keyser, USA
Claude Ballot-Léna, F
  V8 IMSA GT 246 8 1.57,417   Engine
DNF   38  
Porsche Carrera RSR
John Paul Sr, USA
John O'Steen, USA
Bob Hagestad, USA
2994 B6 IMSA GT 217 35 2.12,456    
DNF   46  
Porsche Carrera RSR
Mauricio de Narvaez, CO
Albert Naon, USA
John Freyre, USA
2994 B6 IMSA GT 199 32 2.12,031    
DNF   99  
Chevrolet Corvette
Phil Currin, USA
Robert H. Hoskins, USA
Peter Knab, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 196 20 2.03,597   Engine
DNF   39  
Chevrolet Corvette
Wiley Doran, USA
Jim Barnett, USA
Charles Pelz, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 191 39 2.15,365    
DNF   40  
Ford Mustang
André Sepelon, F
Bob Lee, USA
Larry Parker, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 180 59 no time    
DNF   24  
Porsche Carrera RSR
Tom Frank, USA
Carl Shafer, USA
2994 B6 IMSA GT 178 16 2.02,845    
DNF   2 BMW Motorsport
BMW 320
David Hobbs, GB
Ronnie Peterson, S
Sam Posey, USA
1998 L4 Group 5/Div. 1 177 19 2.03,031   Engine
DNF   41  
Chevrolet Camaro
Herb Jones Jr, USA
Steve Faul, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 154 13 2.02,070    
DNF   55  
Chevrolet Corvette
Rick Thompkins, USA
Dave Heinz, USA
Lamar Mann, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 151 11 1.59,782    
DNF   49  
Chevrolet Corvette
Sam Fillingham, USA
Mike Williamson, USA
K.P. Jones, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 117 48 no time   Engine
DNF   84 Lenton B. McGill
Chevrolet Camaro
Russ Boykin, USA
Sam Henderson, USA
(C.C. Canada, USA)
  V8 IMSA GT 106 47 2.23,174    
DNF   7  
Lancia Stratos
Anatoly Arutunoff, USA
José Marina, USA
Brian Goellnicht, USA
2418 V6 IMSA GT/group 4 Div. 2 99 54 no time   Fuel system
DNF   78  
Chevrolet Corvette
Milton Headley, USA
Sam Feinstein, USA
(Skip Panzarella, USA)
  V8 IMSA GT 85 15 2.02,791    
DNF   21 Inaltera
Inaltera-Cosworth
Lella Lombardi, I
Christine Beckers ("Christine"), B
(Jean Rondeau, F)
2990 V8 Group 6 78 4 1.54,862   Accident
DNF   63 Ted Field
Porsche Carrera RSR
Ted Field, USA
Jon Woodner, USA
(Howdy Holmes, USA)
(Danny Ongais, USA)
2994 B6 IMSA GT 72 17 2.02,893   Accident
DNF   36  
AMC Gremlin
Bill Boye, USA
Jere Gillan, USA
  V8 IMSA GT 60 57 no time    
DNF   98  
Lotus Europa
Ralph Tolman, USA
(Mike Brockman, USA)
(Sam Sommers, USA)
  L4 IMSA GTU 50 56 no time    
DNF   80  
Chevrolet Camaro
Carmon Solomone, USA
Fred Lang, USA
(Buzz Fyhrie, USA)
  V8 IMSA GT 48 28 2.10,029    
DNF   51 Kirby-Hitchcock Racing
VW-Porsche 914/6
Bob Kirby, USA
John Hotchkis Sr, USA
(Dennis Aase, USA)
  B6 IMSA GTU 47 38 2.14,666   Engine
DNF   00 Ted Field
Porsche Carrera RSR Turbo
Danny Ongais, USA
(George Follmer, USA)
(Ted Field, USA)
2142 tc B6 Group 6 35 6 1.56,738   Engine
DNF   01  
Porsche 911
Bob Bergstrom, USA
Jim Cook, CDN
  B6 IMSA GTU 29 42 2.19,335    
DNF   17  
Chevrolet Nova
Vince Gimondo, USA
(Tim Chitwood, USA)
  V8 IMSA GT 20 58 no time    
DNF   03 Bavarian Motors International
BMW 2002
Bruno Beilcke, USA
(Alf Gebhardt, USA)
1990 L4 IMSA GTU 8 55 no time    
DNS   65 Ramsey Ferrari
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Bobby Carradine, USA
John Morton, USA
Roy Woods, USA
4390 V12 IMSA GT/Group 5 Div. 3   (24) 2.06,003    
DNS   79  
Porsche Carrera
Michael Callas, USA
Jerry Jolly, USA
Pierre Laffeach, F
Peter Papke, USA
2994? B6 IMSA GT   (27) 2.09,341    
DNF   04  
Pontiac Astre
Dale Kreider, USA
Bob De Marco, USA
  V8 IMSA GT   (60) no time