1978 San Marino Grand Prix

The **1978 San Marino Grand Prix** was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 25th May 1978. It was the fifth race in both the 1978 World Championship of Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.

The race was won by Tyrrell's Chuck Dingley, followed by Stefan Van Damme and Gervais Trémaux.

## Background

There were further driver changes in the days prior to the San Marino GP as Ferrari hired Richard Jockey to replace Nathan Meiri, with the latter moving to Shadow. Jockey was hired by Ferrari on the recommendation of Jockey's previous teammate, Gervais Trémaux, and an undisclosed fee was paid by Ferrari to buy out Jockey's contract.

Following discussions amongst drivers and teams, the FIA clamped down on the abuse of track limits around the fast Imola Circuit, promising that drivers would be penalised if they used too much kerbing at the four chicanes of the circuit.

## Qualifying

After qualifying just 13 hundredths apart in Monaco, Chuck Dingley and Stefan Van Damme continued their qualifying battle in Imola, with Dingley qualifying on pole by just over a tenth. Gervais Trémaux, who was seen as one of the favourites to win this weekend, qualified a disappointing 5th after opting to run with higher downforce on his setup. His teammate, Richard Jockey, qualified on the second row on his Ferrari debut, much to the delight of the Italian fans.

Scott Amor had a huge shunt at Variante Bassa but was unhurt in the crash, despite his car needing to be completely rebuilt.

## Race Summary

Dingley maintained the lead of the race in the long run down to Tosa corner, with Van Damme attempting to slingshot past with the help of slipstream. Mark Williams, who was making his debut at Wolf, collided with Max Westland, which sent both drivers into wall before Tosa. Williams span violently and sustained a broken leg, whilst Westland was lucky to escape without any injury.

Lotus' Jeremy Spocinklass had a half-spin at the hairpin on cold tyres which resulted in him hitting Nino Tempestini, with both drivers losing several positions as they lost momentum. Up ahead, Dingley and Van Damme attempted to stay alongside through Piratella until Dingley locked his inside tyre and understeered, nudging Van Damme wide. Although Van Damme stayed on the track, the incident caused Richard Jockey to hesitate and he was hit from behind at full speed by Reinaldo Molina, who had failed to react in time to the slowing Ferrari. Jockey crashed into the wall and was unhurt, ending what looked to be a solid Ferrari debut for the young driver. There was further chaos later at the Acque Minerale chicane as many drivers missed their braking points on high fuel loads and cold tyres resulting in them skipping across the high kerbs or spinning.

Dingley kept a lead of several seconds over Van Damme and the two drivers were equally matched during the race, with both drivers using a low downforce setup to take advantage of the circuit's long straights. Further back, Gervais Trémaux was settled in 3rd but was unable to catch the two leading drivers, partly due to running higher downforce.

Hugo Gehring was running out of the points with a damaged front wing on lap eight when he understeered off the track into the wall at Tamburello. Gehring was travelling at over 230kph when he hit the wall and the crash effectively destroyed the entire right side of the car. Following the initial impact, Gehring rebounded back onto the track into the path of Győző Szél who had been following closely behind. Szél was unable to avoid Gehring's car and slammed into the side of his car at high speed, before the pair hit another wall to the left of the track. Gehring had been knocked unconscious in the first impact and his crash with Szél had killed him instantly. Szél escaped with some bruising and a broken leg. This was the second fatality that had occurred during the 1978 season, following the passing of Maria Parker during the season opener in Argentina.

Nino Tempestini was attempting to pass Max Westland when they had a peculiar crash on lap 15. Westland misjudged Tempestini's closing speed and swerved across the Italian driver, resulting in Tempestini having a hard crash into the wall. Tempestini escaped without injury but Westland broke his leg in the incident.

Dingley went on to win the race, followed by Van Damme and Trémaux. After the first lap incident, Spocinklass finished 5th but was promoted to 4th following the disqualification of Molina. Robson finished 5th, with Vadim Pshenichnikov taking the final point.

## Post-Race

Reinaldo Molina was disqualified from the race due to his crash with Richard Jockey. Having originally finished 4th, his disqualification promoted Vadim Pshenichnikov into the points, giving the Russian driver his second point of the season.

## Classification

Fastest lap: Chuck Dingley (Tyrrell) on lap 15 - 1:36.512