1967 12 Hours of Charade

The 1967 12 Hours of Charade was the third round of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship, held at Circuit de Charade, Clermont-Ferrand, on 14th May 1967.
The race was won by Alain Bisset and Gerhard Bernhardt and was Ferrari's first win in the 1967 Championship. This race also featured a memorable drive from Peter Quinn, who recovered from a lap down and drove for over 10 hours solo to eventually finish 2nd. 
== Background ==
Ford came into this race with a 9 point lead in the Over 2000cc championship over Ferrari, whilst Alfa Romeo led the Championship by 4 points over Chevrolet. 
== Race Summary ==
Alain Bisset took Ferrari's first pole position of the season, with John Mackintosh of Ford starting in 2nd. At the start, Bisset ran wide at the first corner, gifting the lead to Mackintosh. Mackintosh led for around half a lap before he locked at le Belvedere and hit the wall, giving his car damage. He returned to the race in 2nd but went off again moments later and was forced to limp back to the pits to repair damage, dropping the car a lap behind the whole field. The team feared that Mackintosh had suffered a concussion and Peter Quinn was forced to drive for the rest of the race in his place. Bisset's Ferrari inherited the lead again and would remain unchallenged for the remainder of the race. 
Further behind, William Parker was struggling to maintain tyre temperature and had dropped to 2nd and into a battle with the sister Ferrari of Ludovico Barilla. Bruno Župan was in 4th several seconds behind. Eventually, the charging Peter Quinn caught up to Župan, albeit still a lap down. After some stubborn defending from Župan, Quinn passed the sister Ford and pulled away.
The race settled down as the sun started to set. The Corvette of John and George Smith held a comfortable lead after the sole Porsche suffered an engine failure late into the race. Alexander Wilson of Ferrari had moved up into 2nd but was being caught by Reinout Teunissen, with Peter Quinn not far behind. Quinn had managed to regain a lap and had driven for over 10 hours by this point of the race. Teunissen caught up to Wilson's Ferrari on the last lap but couldn't find a way past in the twisty second sector of the circuit. Quinn made a move on Teunissen before sliding past Ferrari's Wilson after the latter made a mistake at le Belvedere. With just a few corners to go, Teunissen was set to finish on the podium but span and gifted the final podium spot to Wilson. 
Ferrari won the race by over a minute, with the exhausted Quinn finishing 2nd before passing out after the race. The Smith brothers of Chevrolet won in the Under 2000cc Class.
== Classification ==
Group 	# 	Name 	Team 	Points
>2000cc	1 	Alain Bisset
Gerhard Bernhardt	Ferrari 	9
>2000cc	2 	John Mackintosh
Peter Quinn	Ford 	6
>2000cc	3 	William Parker
Alexander Wilson	Ferrari 	4
>2000cc	4 	Bruno Zupan
Reinout Teunissen	Ford 	3
>2000cc	Ret	Ludovico Barilla	Ferrari 	
>2000cc	Ret	Peter Westland
Frederico Ricci	Ford 	
<2000cc	1 	John Smith
George Smith	Chevrolet 	9
<2000cc	2 	Jean Nguyen
Maruzio D'Agostino	Alfa Romeo	6
<2000cc	Ret	Vittorio Di Russo
Giuseppe Florenzo	Porsche 	0
Category:Races