1982 United States Grand Prix

The **1982 United States Grand Prix**was a Formula One motor race held at Watkins Glen on 4th April 1982. It was the second race in both the 1982 Drivers' Championship and the 1982 Constructors' Championship.

## Background

The United States Grand Prix saw Fabiano Margheriti and Jurg Scheller return to the grid after recovering from the illness that plagued them in South Africa.

McLaren reserve driver Santiago Réyes was announced to be replacing Stanley Robson for the remainder of the season due to the injuries he sustained in South Africa, while Arrows and Brabham hired Brett Spiros and Connor Burns respectively following the fatal accidents of Rien Cantrell and Nathan Meiri.

Lotus driver Dafydd Emrys was absent after a testing crash sidelined the Welsh driver for the foreseeable future, with Lotus opting to run a single car after being unable to find a reserve.

## Qualifying

Chuck Dingley once again took pole position after pacing the field throughout practice, while Vivaldo Margheriti qualified second, three tenths slower than the American.

Stefan Van Damme and teammate Fabiano Margheriti both struggled to find pace compared to the top two and qualified third and fourth respectively, over 8 tenths of a second off of Dingley's pole time.

## Race Summary

Dingley maintained his lead over Vivaldo at the race start. 6th place qualifier Skylar West's race ended quickly, as his Renault engine went up in flames down the back straight on the opening lap. Mick Ashcroft's race also ended quickly, as the Australian was forced into the outside wall when attempting to overtake William W-S, breaking his suspension and ending his race. Meanwhile, Ashcroft's teammate, Connor Burns, attempted to overtake the ATS of James McLean into turn one but misjudged his braking and hit McLean, which severely damaged both cars.

Nino Tempestini was quickly cutting through traffic after starting on soft tyres compared to the rest of the front runners, who had all opted for the medium. By the end of lap 4, Tempestini was up to second place and closing in on race leader Dingley. A few laps later, Tempestini lost control of his Lotus exiting the boot while chasing Dingley, and was forced to retire.

Most of the grid was struggling with rear instability due to the low downforce setups teams opted to run, with many of the midfield runners spinning in the boot throughout the race. Gaps were large at the front of the field as Chuck Dingley once again seemed to have much more pace than any of his rivals. The midfield battle was close, though, and on lap 11 William O'Conner made a daring move around the outside of Armando Munos through the loop. Munos attempted to re-overtake the Williams, but was unable to, with O'Conner's pace proving too much.

The first of the front runners to pit was Chuck Dingley, who pitted at the end of lap 13 to fit a fresh set of mediums. Stefan Van Damme pitted the following lap after overtaking Vivaldo in the loop, fitting a set of mediums to go to the end. Vivaldo stayed out until the end of lap 16, pitting for softs and merging some 3 seconds ahead of Van Damme thanks to an excellent stop by his mechanics. The running order stayed the same until the checkered flag flew, with Dingley claiming a second victory in as many races, almost 16 seconds clear of Vivaldo Margheriti. Stefan Van Damme completed the podium, whilst teammate Fabiano Margheriti finished 4th in a quiet race. Veikko Nyquist and William W-S completed the points, although W-S was demoted to 8th place following a 25 second penalty issued to him by the stewards for the incident with Ashcroft at the start of the race. The penalty promoted William O'Conner to 6th place, giving him the final point.

## Championship Standings

 2
 3
 4
 5

 2
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 4
 5

## Lap Leaders

Chuck Dingley (Laps 1-13, 17-26)

Vivaldo Margheriti (Laps 14-16)