1954 German GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Nurburgring Nordschleife
* Location – Germany
* Corners – 24
* Laps – 22
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 11:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 9:50.100 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 9:55.513 (Paul Pietsch – T-O Wagner)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

## Qualifying 1

An intriguing battle in this session saw Mercedes top the time sheets eventually, but Cooper kept up a dogged resistance throughout. Both Villoresi and Nuckey gave Cooper an early 1-2 after they ousted the Lancia drivers from the top spots - however this was soon taken from them by the likes of Kling, Volonterio and Gerard who for a time held a Mercedes 1-2-3.

However a late surge by Villoresi, and a brilliant sub 9:50 clocking by Gerard gave them 2nd and 1st palce respectively to send the Cooper fans into raptures! Maserati started to come into the reckoning during the end of the session, as they took a while to get their tyres up to temperature and Moss managed to claim 5th place - though he did set a faster lap-time, which was just after the chequered flag waved, and despite Maserati protests to the contrary the lap was disallowed.

Herrmann and Lang also rescued Maserati blushes with 8th and 10th respectively, with a solid top 10 performance from Salvadori's Vanwall. Indeed the Vanwall's in attendance looked quite pacy, as Menditeguy took 13th just behind Collins in the lead Lancia and Mantovani in the lead Ferrari.

Flockhart does well to out-qualify a Maserati in 15th, whilst we have 2 Klenk's in qualifying for the 1st time this season thanks to renewed vigour from Fred Wacker - who even avoided being in last place too!

**Qualifying 1 Results**

## Qualifying 2

A great Q2 here in Germany, as no less than 3 manufacturers jostle for the top positions - and usually it's one of Mercedes and Maserati who have come out on top. However for once, here at the track where the greatest drivers put in the greatest performances, it is the Cooper of Rodney Nuckey who puts in a stunning lap-time to claim the victory in Q2!

Marginally behind them are Kling as top Mercedes and Moss as top Maserati, to make it 3 manufacturers in the top 3 for the 1st time in qualifying this season! Whitehead finishes 5th, in a Maserati sandwich between Lang and Herrmann, with Villoresi 7th for Cooper from Farina and Volonterio.

Rounding out the top 10 with a great lap is Mantovani in the Ferrari, who will be delighted to beat out both Gerard's Mercedes and Marimon's Maserati too, who occupy 11th and 12th respectively! Behind them come the Vanwall duo, the Lancia duo and the HWM duo.

And it's great to see 2 Klenk's finishing Q2 for the 1st time this season, as the beleaguered German manufacturer see a glimmer of hope in that. However an issue in the garage with the Cooper of Manzon means he is unable to make it out for qualifying in this session, and thus will miss the race.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

## Overall Qualifying Results

After a brilliant qualifying session it is Nuckey for Cooper who takes a 1st ever pole position for the British manufacturer - and the 1st non-Maserati pole position of the season! Mercedes will be ruing a missed opportunity to take that record themselves!!!

The results behind him do mirror the Q2 times, with 2 exceptions - first of all Gerard's poor Q2 performance in 11th will be surpassed by his Q1 effort, which means he actually starts the race in 6th position and therefore drops Herrmann, Villoresi, Farina, Volonterio and Mantovani down a position as a result.

The other exception is Harry Schell's Cooper, who will start ahead of Parnell's Connaught thanks to a better Q1 time. If he can share the Cooper setup-work though, then maybe there's still a chance for him to salvage something in the race!

Not starting this race are the Cooper of Manzon, who couldn't get out in Q2 - the Maserati of Berger, the Lancia of Maglioli, and then most of the usual suspects - 3 Connaughts of Swaters, Macklin and Gould, the Cooper of Helfrich, the 3 Ferrari's of Musso, Taruffi and Godia, the Gordini duo of Trintignant & Gonzalez, the HWM of Rosier and the Vanwall pair of Whitehouse and Behra - though the Frenchman may be making a comeback at the Swiss GP next weekend.

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - Nuckey gets a clean start, and manages to pull out a second over Kling's Mercedes and Moss's Maserati - but Lang gets far too much wheelspin from 4th on the grid, and this means that Whitehead is forced to avoid him at Sudkehre and take to the grass in order to do so! All of this promotes Gerard to 4th, Farina into 5th place, Herrmann to 6th and Villoresi into a great 7th place for Cooper.

Lang is down in 8th, with Marimon getting a strong start and moving into 9th place ahead of the recovering Whitehead in 10th, Volonterio in 11th, Mantovani in 12th and Savladori in 13th. Up to 14th is de Graffenried, who passes Menditeguy into Eschabch, from Collins 16th, and the fast-starting Schell who gains 4 places and is already up to 17th place by the end of lap 1!

Flockhart, Pilette and Pollet all drop down to the outskirts of the top 20, whilst Ascari has a torrid opening lap for Gordini, losing positions to Parnell, Hawthorn and Brandon already. Fangio gets out of last place at the expense of the reinvigorated Wacker, who looks to be struggling with a lack of race time here.

*Lap 2* - Farina manages to sling one up the inside at Karussell to take Gerard for 4th place, but attention is on Marimon who comfortably dispatches the ailing Lang at Hohe Acht, before outpacing Villoresi on the straight into Hohenrain to claim 7th place.

Elsewhere on track Salvadori slides wide at Kallenhardt as he misses his braking point, and that sucks de Graffenried into also running wide too - both come back on track but are rapidly losing momentum, which allows both Menditeguy and Collins through.

Collins then makes the most of the situation by passing Menditeguy into Wehrseifen - whilst Pollet gains ground on Pilette in the Gordini.

*Lap 3* - Marimon pushes too hard on this lap, as he aims to gain ground on Herrmann in 6th place, but instead makes a mistake at Brunnchen and drops a position to Villoresi. In a good lap for Cooper Nuckey sets the fastest lap and pulls out a 3.7 second gap over Kling's Mercedes, and Schell halves the gap to De Graffenried ahead of him.

*Lap 4* - Marimon renews his attack, and moves up to 6th place after he passes Villoresi at Aremberg and takes Herrmann with a brilliant move around the outside at Metzgesfeld that he holds going into Kallenhardt too! Meanwhile Kling gains ground on Nuckey and cuts the gap to 1.3 seconds, leaving Moss a further 3.5 seconds back.

Further back Lang's race goes from bad to worse as he spins at Klostertal, and once again blocks Whitehead - though it seems the Mercedes driver is able to swerve around him and take the position. Sadly this compromises his momentum, and allows both Volonterio and Mantovani to beat him on the drag down to Karussell.

*Lap 5* - Kling causes the hearts of Cooper fans everywhere to drop, as he gets a better exit from Karussell and moves past Nuckey at Hohe Acht to claim the lead. Meanwhile Gerard passes Farina at Quiddelbacher Hohe, and Villoresi has a brave lunge up the inside of Herrmann at Pflanzgarten, which he makes stick to claim 7th place for Cooper.

Near the back Brandon gets it all wrong going into Schwalbenschwanz, and as he comes back on track he collides heavily with Ascari, causing the Gordini driver to sustain some serious damage and putting a hole in the Klenk's petrol tank, which spills out onto the track before he manages to pull off and retire there and then. All of this benefits Fangio, who gains 2 places in the space of a lap as a result!

*Lap 6* - The top 3 all come into the pits, which explains their initial pace advantage - Moss has the best stop, followed closely by Nuckey meaning the Cooper comes out in front - meanwhile Kling's mechanics have a nightmare with a sticking wheel-nut, which causes him to fall behind the others in the pits.

That promotes Gerard into the lead, with Marimon passing team-mate Farina at Schwedenkreuz to take provisional 2nd place. Villoresi is now 4th from Herrmann 5th, Whitehead up to 6th as the Mercedes driver takes Mantovani and then Volonterio with real confidence in his car at this course!

Lang is now 9th from Collins 10th, Menditeguy 11th, Salvadori 12th, de Graffenried 13th and Schell 14th. Nuckey is out of the pits in 15th position, and crucially he manages to get Flockhart in between him and Moss. Kling is next up, but some 7 seconds down the road as a result of that slow pit-stop.

Fangio pits on this lap, and allows the ailing Ascari to pass him - though that is likely to be reversed soon as the Gordini has some heavy damage. Even Wacker is gaining on the Italian at this point!

*Lap 7* - Menditeguy pits on this lap, dropping behind Kling to 18th place - meanwhile on track Moss uses his fresh tyres to pass Flockhart around the outside of Bergwerk. Pilette, Pollet and Hawthorn all come into the pits and emerge in the same positions, and meanwhile Fangio draws up to the rear of Ascari and will likely pass him next time around.

*Lap 8* - Gerard stays out in the lead, with Volonterio up to 2nd place and Lang into 3rd position. A measure of his pace is that Nuckey passes everyone in the pits and moves into 4th place - most of the field do come in to refuel on this lap, and so we see the race on the pit-lane come into effect…

And the man coming out ahead is Farina, who emerges in 5th place ahead of team-mate Moss who had already pitted. Marimon is out in 7th ahead of Whitehead who has a great stop to gain places over the likes of Kling in 9th, Mantovani in a credible 10th place, Herrmann 11th and Villoresi out in 12th position, as the Cooper mechanics are incredibly slow on the Italian's pit-stops.

Collins is out in 13th, from Salvadori, de Graffenried, Menditeguy in 16th place who had already pitted, Schell in 17th who has a slow stop as does Flockhart in 18th for HWM. Further back Fangio passes the damaged Ascari too, who will soon be caught by Wacker as well.

*Lap 9* - Lang pits on this lap, and a reasonably good stop puts him out behind Mantovani - the Ferrari driver has other things on his mind though, as Herrmann elbows past him at Bergwerk to take 9th place. That promotes Nuckey to 3rd place, Farina to 4th and an enterprising Marimon into 5th, as the Argentinian passes team-mate Moss with a cheeky late dive up the inside at Karussell.

*Lap 10* - Moss passes Marimon with a more forceful move at Kallenhardt, whilst Lang takes Mantovani and uses his fresh tyres to use superior grip at the exit from Brunnchen to claim the place. De Graffenried also gets the better of Salvadori on this lap.

Wacker moves out of last place with an overtake on Ascari here as well, which will be a great relief for the Klenk team after Brandon's early exit has seemed to consign them to the rank of lowest team today!

*Lap 11* - The top 3 come into the pits on this lap, with Gerard having a quick stop to come out JUST behind both Farina and Moss. Meanwhile Whitehead throws one up the inside of Marimon at Aremberg to take 4th place, and Kling is now into 6th position ahead of Volonterio who comes out in 7th place.

Meanwhile Nuckey drops way down the order to 13th position, coming out some 12 seconds down on Collins.

*Lap 12* - Moss takes the race lead as he slipstreams Farina into Hohenrain to complete the move before the chicane. Marimon is the man on the move this lap, as he causes cheers in the Maserati garage with moves firstly on Whitehead at Fuchsrohre and then on Gerard at Klostertal to create a Maserati 1-2-3.

Villoresi passes Mantovani here to move inside the top 10, whilst Nuckey cuts the gap to Collins down to 9 seconds. Salvadori passes de Graffenried here, and behind them both Gordini drivers come into the pits causing 2 slow stops - but given their respective loneliness on track neither lose a position as a result.

*Lap 13* - Farina re-takes the lead as the Maserati's battle over the spoils of the race victory as it stands - a neat move up the inside at Pflanzgarten ensures he reclaims his lead. Whitehead passes Gerard for 4th with a bold move around the outside at Eschbach.

Attention is on Mantovani though, as the Ferrari driver is having a great time out there; first he motors past Villoresi on the run down to Metzgesfeld, followed by a stunning overtake on Lang as he sells him a dummy into Wippermann, which the hapless Maserati driver falls for and drops to 10th position as a result.

De Graffenried re-takes Salvadori, and at the back having mended his damage Ascari is gaining some serious ground over Wacker at this point of the race!

*Lap 14* - Several drivers pit this lap; firstly Moss who comes out in 12th place, then Herrmann in 15th place, Menditeguy in 18th position and both Pilette & Fangio, who keep their current positions.

Kling takes Gerard on this lap, claiming 4th place whilst Villoresi moves into 8th position as he passes Lang, who is having an awful time of things today.

*Lap 15* - The top 3 all come into the pits on this lap, promoting Kling into the lead from Gerard and Volonterio to make a Mercedes 1-2-3, with Mantovani 4th and Villoresi 5th. Lang is 6th and Nuckey is now into 7th place ahead of Farina who comes out in 8th position, from Whitehead 9th, Moss 10th and Marimon in 11th place.

Salvadori passes de Graffenried on this lap, as they continue their on-track battle. Meanwhile Collins comes into the pits, emerging behind Schell. Hawthorn and Wacker both pit, which elevates Ascari above the Klenk driver.

*Lap 16* - Another spate of pit-stops on this lap sees Kling come in and cede the lead of the race to Gerard from Volonterio, with Nuckey up to 3rd place. Farina is back up to 4th, from Whitehead, Moss and Marimon - with Kling out in 8th place.

Mantovani is out in 9th from Lang 10th, Herrmann 11th, Schell 12th, Villoresi with another slow stop down to 13th, Collins in 14th place with Salvadori 15th and de Graffenried 16th. Flockhart comes out behind Menditeguy to elevate the Vanwall driver to 17th place too.

*Lap 17* - Nuckey comes in for his 3rd stop, which is unlikely to be a great strategy. He comes out in 11th position, and will have to really charge in the last 5 laps to get anything out of this race!

*Lap 18* - Whitehead passes Farina for 3rd place at Schwedenkreuz, who once again makes a Mercedes 1-2-3 - meanwhile Villoresi passes Schell to move into 12th place and give the Italian a shot at Nuckey and the Maseratis in front.

*Lap 19* - And the Cooper driver passes his team-mate Nuckey and starts to gain ground on the Maserati pair in front! Meanwhile Schell slows down and has to pull over to the side of the road, it seems he is out of fuel!!!

*Lap 20* - Moss passes Farina for 4th place as Whitehead begins to pull away with the fastest lap of the race (much to Nuckey's irritation) to continue the Mercedes podium lockout - meanwhile de Graffenried passes Salvadori, and Menditeguy's race comes to an abrupt end as he runs out of fuel coming into Metzgesfeld.

As their tyres lose grip both Fangio and Wacker damage their cars in separate incidents, and look likely to be losing time from here on in!

*Lap 21* - Volonterio gains ground on Gerard, but it looks like their race has pretty much settled down - whilst Whitehead extends the lead over those behind as he sets another fastest lap of the race and breaks the 9:44 barrier!

Villoresi and Nuckey are both on the back of Herrmann as they push to get inside the top 10, though Lang has now pulled out over 4 seconds advantage and looks to be settled in 9th place.

Wacker pits on this lap to fix his damage, and of course comes out still in 25th place. Hawthorn has a spin on this lap, and damages the underfloor of his car too.

*Lap 22* - And so in a carbon copy of last race Gerard takes the victory, followed by championship leader Volonterio with Whitehead's Mercedes rounding out the podium and taking fastest lap too. Moss and Farina round out the points scorers today, with Marimon and Kling missing out.

Mantovani takes the mantle of "best of the rest" today in 8th place, with Lang in 9th…and Villoresi in 10th!?! Nuckey finishes 11th for Cooper, but there's no sign of Herrmann - and it seems he has stopped out on track with no fuel left in the tank! Collins takes 12th position, with de Graffenried in 13th and…Flockhart in 14th?!?

Salvadori has also had an issue on the last lap and has had to pull over to the side with no fuel left! Pilette takes 15th from Pollet in 16th place - thanks to those behind being over a lap down Herrmann will finish 17th with Salvadori in 18th place.

Parnell is 19th from Hawthorn in 20th, with the retired Menditeguy in 21st place, Fangio 22nd, Ascari 23rd (despite a spin on the final lap), Schell down in 24th and Wacker in 25th place. Brandon of course finishes last of the 26 starters.