1982 Formula One Season

The **1982 Formula One season** was the 33rd season of Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested concurrently over a twelve race series that commenced on 24th January and ended on 12th September.

Stefan Van Damme came into the season as the first five-time World Champion, having won his 5th title in 1981. Van Damme ended his 10 year stint at Lotus to join Ferrari for the 1982 season.

Van Damme was unable to defend his championship in his first season at Ferrari, with American Chuck Dingley taking his fourth Drivers' Championship. Ferrari won it's first Constructors' Championship since 1967.

## Season Report

### **Round 1: South Africa**

The grid got away cleanly before a heavy crash at the end of the first lap between Strip Weathers and Nathan Meiri resulted in Meiri losing his life. The debris was cleared from the track and the race was restarted roughly 40 minutes after the first start.

Dingley started well from pole position, with Van Damme momentarily taking 2nd from Vivaldo Margheriti before the Italian driver took the position back at Sunset. Just before the end of the lap there was another huge crash; this time between the rookies Rien Cantrell and Dafydd Emrys. Cantrell had moved over on Emrys just after the Kink when Cantrell span into the wall at high speed. He was pronounced dead by the time that marshals arrived to help, but the race continued. The sport almost saw it's third fatality of the weekend when Stanley Robson hit a kerb at the Jukskei Sweep and smashed into an armco barrier to the left of the circuit. His McLaren flipped over the barrier into the crowd of spectators watching the race. Although Robson survived the incident, albeit heavily injured, 9 spectators were killed with 22 injured.

Mick Ashcroft appeared to be faster than his old rival Van Damme and made a move at the start of lap two. In an attempt to cut back on Ashcroft, Van Damme tapped the rear of his Brabham, spinning the Australian. Van Damme almost stalled the car in the process and was passed by the rest of the grid before he got going again.

Meanwhile, Dingley and Vivaldo Margheriti continued to build a gap to the rest of the field as the race progressed. Dingley pitted on lap 16 and Vivaldo pitted three laps later. They were fairly equally matched in pace and traded fastest laps until Dingley was forced to pit again on lap 30 for soft tyres. He emerged six seconds behind Margheriti but brought the gap down to nothing within two laps. On lap 32 the two drivers engaged in a short but memorable battle for the lead of the race and they were side-by-side for the entire first sector until Dingley took advantage of his superiror grip and dived down Margheriti's inside at Clubhouse.

Chuck Dingley went on to win the race by almost eight seconds over Vivaldo Margheriti, with Stefan Van Damme making a comeback to finish on the podium. Nino Tempestini finished 4th, with Mick Ashcroft and William O'Conner rounding out the points.

### **Round 2: United States**

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

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.

### **Round 3: San Marino**

Vivaldo Margheriti took a surprise pole position after trading fastest laps with Chuck Dingley throughout practice, outpacing the McLaren by two tenths of a second. The Ferrari duo of Stefan Van Damme and Fabiano Margheriti locked out the second row of the grid, but both were over a second slower than the time set by Vivaldo

Vivaldo Margheriti and Chuck Dingley went wheel to wheel on the run down to Tosa off the race start. The two remained side by side through Tosa, with Dingley finally gaining the advantage heading into Acque Minerale. The two would swap the lead multiple times in the following laps, slipstreaming past one another down the main straight and on the run to Tosa.

While the top two were battling lap after lap, they were consistently pulling away from the Ferrari duo of Stefan Van Damme and Fabiano Margheriti by over half a second a lap, showing that the Ferrari 126C2 was still suffering from the same lack of ultimate pace they had been since the season opener in South Africa.

Race leader Vivaldo Margheriti came into the pits at the end of lap 12 to fit a new set of soft tyres, with Dingley opting to overcut, pitting at the end of the following lap. Dingley rejoined the race with a 3 second lead over Vivaldo, but Dingley's cold tyres allowed Vivaldo to quickly catch and pass the McLaren.

On lap 16 Dingley attempted to follow Vivaldo around the lapped Tyrrell of Jurg Scheller and outbroke himself into the Variante Alta chicane, losing 3 seconds to Vivaldo in the process. The following laps Dingley set times over a second quicker than his previous best in the race, and on lap 19 he overtook Vivaldo and immediately started building a gap.

Further back Fabiano Margheriti and Mick Ashcroft were in a tense battle for 4th position, when on lap 23 Ashcroft had a snap of oversteer on the apex of Tosa. Ashcroft successfully caught the slide, but smashed into Margheriti, spinning him around. The Ferrari driver over-revved his engine attempting to get going again and his engine promptly blew, forcing him to retire.

When the checkered flag flew, Chuck Dingley took his third win in as many races, while Vivaldo Margheriti was once again forced to settle for second. Stefan Van Damme completed the podium, while Mick Ashcroft, Santiago Reyes, and William W-S completed the points.

### **Round 4: Belgium**

Vivaldo Margheriti took his second pole in as many races, beating Chuck Dingley's pole lap in the closing seconds of the session. Stefan Van Damme qualified third again, although he was much closer then at the previous three rounds, while Mick Ashcroft qualified fourth after Fabiano Margheriti struggled throughout qualifying.

Vivaldo Margheriti maintained his lead off the line and into La Source, with Dingley following closely behind, slipstreaming the Williams down the Kemmel straight. The two entered Les Combes side by side, but Dingley misjudged the braking zone and locked up, running off the track and into the grass, and rejoining in 4th behind the Ferrari duo of Stefan Van Damme and Fabiano Margheriti. Further back, William W-S also outbroke himself, running wide into the McLaren of Santiago Reyes. This forced the McLaren driver wide and sent William W-S into a spin. W-S subsequently stalled and was forced to retire from the race.

On the start of the second lap, Stefan Van Damme took the lead down the Kemmel straight by slipstreaming past Vivaldo Margheriti. Van Damme tried to quickly build a gap, but made a mistake at the exit of Stavelot 2 and was forced to blip the throttle, which gave Margheriti a run down the back straight. The two attempted to go side by side through Blanchimont but made contact. Margheriti span off into the tyre barrier where his car burst into flames moments later. Surprisingly, no red flag was thrown for the incident, but luckily Vivaldo had been extracted from his car before the leaders had come around again.

Chuck Dingley found a way past Fabiano Margheriti's Ferrari on the start of lap 4 before setting his sights on race leader Van Damme. The two drivers were evenly matched, and were setting the same laptimes until the pit stop cycle began on lap 9. Van Damme's Ferrari mechanics had a slow stop which visibly angered the Belgian driver, as Dingley was only a second behind when Van Damme pulled into the pitlane. Dingley pitted on the following lap and was expected to merge ahead of Van Damme until his McLaren almost stalled on the pit exit. Dingley's troubles allowed Van Damme to reclaim the race lead which had grown to 3 seconds over Dingley.

Meanwhile, Van Damme's Ferrari teammate Fabiano Margheriti had an incident on his out-lap, with the Italian driver struggling to get his tyres up to temperature and subsequently running wide and getting sent into a lazy spin at Rivage. Fabiano quickly merged back onto the racing line, but ended up losing almost 10 seconds to the leading duo of Van Damme and Dingley. A few laps later Fabiano had another off, this time running wide and into the gravel trap at Pouhon, which allowed fourth place runner Mick Ashcroft to overtake him.

By the end of lap 15, Chuck Dingley had closed the gap to race leader Stefan Van Damme to a few tenths of a second. After a decent run out of La Source, he was able to slipstream alongside the five-time champion down the Kemmel straight. The two went side-by-side through Les Combes, with Dingley able to overtake Van Damme around the outside after the Belgian had a small snap of oversteer which forced him to blip the throttle. Van Damme stayed close behind Dingley for the remainder of the lap, and set himself up to re-overtake the McLaren on the following lap down the Kemmel straight. Van Damme temporarily cleared Dingley, but Dingley entered Van Damme's slipstream and pulled alongside again, likely with the aid of higher boost pressure. The two went wheel-to-wheel into Les Combes for the second consecutive lap, but this time Van Damme appeared to take the normal racing line, subsequently pushing Dingley off the track. Dingley attempted to rejoin the track but made further contact with Van Damme, spinning the McLaren around while Van Damme continued on unaffected.

Van Damme went on to win the race, the 29th of his career and his first for Ferrari, by a margin of 13 seconds over Chuck Dingley. Fabiano Margheriti completed the podium and finished third, overtaking Mick Ashcroft at Rivage in the closing laps. Ashcroft finished fourth, with Santiago Reyes and William O'Conner completing the points.

### **Round 5: Monaco**

Following Vivaldo Margheriti's near fatal accident during the Belgian Grand Prix, the newly-formed GPDA announced that they were planning to boycott the race in an attempt to force the FIA to take a closer look at the safety standards of both the circuits and the cars.

Moments prior to Saturday's qualifying session, the Smythe team announced that they were forced to pull out of the race. Rumors ran amok, with the most accepted story being that team owner and driver William Worchestershire-Smythe had bet away the team's two cars at the Casino de Monte-Carlo after going bust at the roulette table.

Chuck Dingley scored his 3rd pole position of the season, a tenth quicker than Fabiano Margheriti, who barely edged out teammate Stefan Van Damme to start on the front row of the grid. Williams reserve driver Sid Donnelly impressed in 4th place, while teammate William O'Conner struggled throughout qualifying and was only able to manage 7th.

At the race start polesitter Chuck Dingley maintained his lead over Fabiano Margheriti into Sainte Devote, while 5th place qualifier Skylar West had an atrocious first lap, dropping to 9th. The opening laps of the race were relatively quiet as every driver saved their tyres in an attempt to make them last the entire race. However on lap 10, race leader Dingley lost the rear of his McLaren entering the swimming pool chicane and punctured his right rear tyre before being forced to limp back to the pitlane. After a lengthy pitstop he merged in 8th place behind the Ligier of Ronnie Anderson.

Meanwhile, Skylar West had recovered back to his qualifying position of 5th after his poor start, but was stuck behind the other Ligier of Reinaldo Molina. West was unable to find a way past and on lap 15 he made a desperate dive into the Nouvelle chicane. Molina hadn't seen the Renault's dive and turned into the corner normally, colliding with the Renault and pushing both off the track, which allowed Dingley to overtake both of them and move into 5th. Molina made another mistake moments later and locked up at Sainte Devote, spearing into the Williams of O'Conner before retiring from the race.

Williams' race continued to go downhill shortly after O'Conner's incident, as third place runner Sid Donnelly was called into the pits. The team predicted that he would emerge ahead of the hard charging McLaren of Dingley, but a slow stop meant meant that he merged directly behind Dingley. Donnelly was unable to challenge him due to his cold tyres, and was forced to watch as a debut podium slipped from his grasp.

The Ferrari duo of Fabiano Margheriti and Stefan Van Damme went on to finish 1st and 2nd. They crossed the line to take the checkered flag in formation, with Fabiano winning the race by less than a second over Van Damme. Dingley's fresher soft tyres allowed him to close within five and a half seconds of the Ferrari duo, but he was forced to settle for the final step on the podium after starting on pole. Donnelly finished 4th on his debut a further five seconds back from Dingley, while Skylar West was able to hold onto 5th ahead of William O'Conner to score his first points of the season.

### **Round 6: Canada**

Ferrari had struggled to find pace in Friday and Saturday practice, with Fabiano Margheriti lacking confidence in the 126C. The fight for pole was between Chuck Dingley and Sid Donnelly, with Dingley eventually going on to take pole position. Van Damme qualified 3rd, six tenths off the top time, with his teammate Fabiano Margheriti qualifying 4th. Bruce Kerrigan impressed by qualifying 6th.

The front four got away cleanly, with Dingley maintaining the lead over Donnelly, Van Damme, and Margheriti. 5th placed qualifier Strip Weathers locked up at turn one and went wide before rejoining the circuit and having a small collision with his teammate Danilo Koren, who was making his debut for Renault. Doryo Yuri, a Japanese driver who was starting his first race in the sport for Ligier, also locked up into the first corner and collected the Williams of William O'Conner. Both continued into the race with minimal damage. Yuri's inexperience was clearly evident and he went on to cause another incident when he forced off the ATS of Gyozo Szel at turn three. Szel was forced to travel across the grass but continued into the race.

There was a small pileup near the end of the first lap at the fast Casino chicane. Szel ran wide onto the grass before colliding with the outside barrier. William O'Conner and James McLean were unable to avoid the ATS driver and collided with him. All three drivers were forced to retire. Pietro Martins was also caught up in the incident but continued into the race. Moments later there was yet another crash as Connor Burns ran into the back of Veikko Nyquist before the final chicane. Nyquist had struggled to bring his brakes up to temperature and broke cautiously into the chicane, catching out Burns in the process. As Burns' destroyed car sat still on the entrance to the pitlane, Doryo Yuri had a brake failure and ran into the Brabham car at almost full speed. Despite the speed of Yuri's car, both drivers were unharmed in the incident. By the end of the first lap, six drivers had retired from the race and attrition continued to take it's toll on the remaining drivers throughout the rest of the race.

Dingley maintained a lead of around two seconds over Donnelly in the first laps, with Van Damme and Margheriti dropping back slightly. On lap four, Dingley ran slightly wide onto the grass at Casino. The loss of momentum allowed Donnelly to take the lead and he maintained a small gap over Dingley for several laps until the pit window. By lap 14, Dingley had closed the gap to Donnelly before Donnelly's engine started cutting out due to a lack of fuel. The English driver was forced to coast into the pits on fumes but made his scheduled stop before returning to the race in 5th behind Mick Ashcroft. Following this, Dingley lost his only challenger as both Ferrari's were unable to keep up with his pace, and he went on to take his 19th Grand Prix victory. Donnelly was able to pass Fabiano Margheriti to deny him of a podium, due to the Italian pitting twice on consecutive laps after a pitstop error by Ferrari. Santiago Reyes and Danilo Koren were duelling for much of the race and Reyes eventually won out, finishing just under half a second in front of the rookie Koren. Despite starting from the pitlane, Nate O'Brien recovered to finish in 7th.

### **Round 7: United States North**

Following the cancellation of the previously scheduled Detroit Grand Prix, Formula One headed to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the seventh round of the championship.

Prior to the start of the weekend, it was announced that Renault reserve Danilo Koren had secured a drive with Alfa Romeo for the remainder of the season. The team had struggled to find a replacement for the injured Joao Coutinho.

The struggling Smythe team attended their first race since the Belgian Grand Prix, with Armando Munos representing the team. Team owner and driver William Worchestershire-Smythe was absent due to a court hearing over a sponsorship dispute.

Chuck Dingley dominated qualifying en route to his fifth pole position of the season, qualifying over a second quicker than second place qualifier Fabiano Margheriti. Stefan Van Damme qualified third, less than a tenth of a second slower than his teammate, while Bruce Kerrigan impressed the entire paddock, qualifying 5th in his Arrows.

Sid Donnelly was unable to set a time during qualifying after spinning on his first lap, and being blocked by Dingley on his second lap. As a result, Donnelly was forced to start 18th.

The majority of the grid got away well off the line but there was a massive incident at the entry to the first corner when James McLean swerved across the nose of Brett Spiros, sending both into the outside wall. Just moments before, Veikko Nyquist had been caught out by the slow-starting Armando Munos. Nyquist was forced to lift off the throttle before he was hit from behind by Spiros. Nyquist had a small impact into the wall but continued the race.

Stefan Van Damme moved up into 2nd at the start, ahead of his teammate Fabiano Margheriti, before attempting to take the lead from Chuck Dingley at turn five. On cold tyres and brakes, Van Damme locked up on the entry to the corner and went wide, allowing Dingley to pull away and build a small gap.

At the end of lap three, Santiago Reyes lost control of his McLaren car at the Kink and slammed into the wall at high speed. The car was destroyed in the impact with the concrete wall and Reyes broke his femur in the crash. Pietro Martins had a similar crash at the same corner on lap 10 but escaped without injury.

Dingley and Margheriti both pitted at the end of lap 11 for tyres and fuel, leaving Van Damme to stay out and inherit the lead of the race. The Belgian driver pitted a lap later, coming out roughly five seconds behind Dingley but ahead of Margheriti. Suddenly, Dingley's pace dropped by several seconds as he was forced to save fuel after an error by the McLaren pit crew. Van Damme closed the gap, before overtaking the American at the start of lap 18. Having managed to save enough fuel to get to the end of the race, Dingley pushed hard to keep up with Van Damme and the pair were equally matched as they started the final lap. Dingley went wide through the first corner and gained on Van Damme as they approached turn two, pulling just alongside the Belgian driver on the entrance to the corner. Van Damme pulled slightly to the left of the track in an attempt to squeeze Dingley but they made contact, with Dingley spinning off onto the grass. Van Damme half-spun but was able to continue, going on to take the 30th win of his Formula One career.

Van Damme's teammate Fabiano Margheriti came through in 2nd, whilst Williams' Sid Donnelly finished on the final step of the podium after an amazing fightback through the field. Dingley had pressured Donnelly on the final lap but made a mistake at the final corner and came through to finish 4th. Nate O'Brien finished in 5th, taking his first Formula One points and Lotus' first points finish since the South African Grand Prix. Bruce Kerrigan wrestled his underpowered and heavy Arrows into 6th. This was Kerrigan's first points finish and Arrows' first point of the season and it also brought them ahead of Alfa Romeo in the Constructors' Championship.

### **Round 8: Britain**

Fabiano led the field away, with the front cars maintaining their positions off the race start. Further back, Sid Donnelly made contact with the Alfa Romeo of Danilo Koren at McLean's. Donnelly span into the gravel but continued on into the race.

Fabiano and Levesque pulled out a slight gap in the early laps of the race, with Dingley and Van Damme staying closely matched behind. Kerrigan was in 5th with a large gap back to Vivaldo Margheriti, who was struggling to find pace in the early stages of the race. On lap six, Levesque's gearbox jammed at Coppice and he was forced to retire. At the end of the next lap, Sid Donnelly and Armando Munos came together at the final corner. Munos had lit up the rear tyres on the exit of the corner which had caught out Donnelly in the process. Both cars span towards the pitlane and hit the wall, being forced to retire in the process.

Fabiano had the pace advantage over Dingley and Van Damme and extended his gap in the lead until lap 13 when his gearbox also jammed at Coppice. Margheriti was almost ready to retire the car until he somhow resolved the problem and got back up to speed. However it had cost him over 10 seconds and the lead of the race.

Most of the field pitted at the midpoint of the race, with Dingley overcutting Van Damme by a lap to emerge around five seconds ahead of the Belgian driver, with Fabiano Margheriti in 3rd. On lap 16, Mick Ashcroft span at the Old Hairpin, collecting the Williams of William O'Conner, who had tried his best to avoid the out-of-control Brabham. Ashcroft had spent much of his race behind Vivaldo Margheriti but had been unable to find a way past.

With just 10 laps until the finish, Van Damme started to close the gap on his championship rival Chuck Dingley, who was leading the race by under five seconds at this point. Dingley had flatspotted a tyre at the Melbourne hairpin, giving him an uncomfortable vibration for the remainder of the race. Fabiano Margheriti was lapping half a second faster than both leading drivers. As they started the final lap of the race they were separated by under a second. Shortly after lapping the Tyrrell of Veikko Nyquist, Dingley locked up at the chicane and ran slightly deep, giving Van Damme a better run through the corner and the inside for the Melbourne hairpin. Van Damme took the lead of the race with just a corner to go and as Dingley locked up at the final corner, Fabiano took advantage and grabbed 2nd.

The three drivers were separated by under half a second at the line. It was Van Damme's third win of the season and it brought him to within two points of Dingley **in the championship**. Bruce Kerrigan finished 4th in Arrows' best result of the year so far, with Danilo Koren finishing 5th after a race-long battle with Vivaldo Margheriti and Mick Ashcroft. Vivaldo finished in 6th in his return to the sport, an outstanding achievement considering the pain he was still suffering. He was unable to attend post-race media duties due to exhaustion and required help from the team to get out of his car following the race.

### **Round 9: France**

Polesitter Fabiano Margheriti got off the line cleanly, but there was contact further back between Danilo Koren and Chuck Dingley after Koren outbroke himself into the first corner. He ran wide into Dingley, sending both drivers into the gravel and to the back of the field. Gyozo Szel was forced to retire just moments into the race after he lost control and was collected by Williams' William O'Conner. At the end of the opening lap, Levesque lost the rear of his Ligier in the penultimate corner, spinning off into the barrier, making it four retirements in four races for the Canadian.

Stefan Van Damme took advantage of the misfortunes of the cars ahead and had a blistering start, going from 10th to 3rd on the opening lap. Van Damme's 3rd turned into 2nd on the following lap after he overtook Bruce Kerrigan in the Parabolique after Kerrigan ran wide at the previous corner. Mick Ashcroft followed Van Damme past Kerrigan, but contact in the following corner after Kerrigan misjudged Ashcroft braking point resulted in Ashcroft's DNF and fifth consecutive non-points finish.

Fabiano Margheriti looked to be in a class of his own much like he was in qualifying. He had almost a 10 second gap over teammate Van Damme by lap five of the race and consistently lapped almost a second faster than him.

In a race where Van Damme was en route to take the lead of the championship thanks to Dingley's first corner incident, disaster struck for the Belgian on lap 15 when the lapped ATS of Laurent Leroux lost the rear of his car into turn one, overcorrecting directly into the path of Van Damme, who had nowhere to go. Van Damme struck the ATS, snapping his right front suspension and retiring in a race that had looked to be another easy Ferrari 1-2. It was the Belgian driver's first retirement of the season.

After the pit-stops had cycled through on lap 20, Fabiano held a lead of over 20 seconds to Kun-woo Chang. Chang had been scooped up by Brabham to replace Connor Burns after his debut in Brands Hatch, while Danilo Koren had recovered to 3rd after the first lap collision with Dingley. Koren overtook Chang on the following lap when Chang made a mistake and ran into the gravel trap, losing over five seconds and falling into the clutches of fourth-placed Dingley.

Dingley managed to pass Chang a few laps later down the main straight and set his sights on Koren, methodically closing the gap by a handful of tenths every lap. On lap 30 Dingley slipstreamed past Koren to take second. It capped off an amazing recovery drive for the American driver after falling to last and almost getting beached in the gravel due to the contact with Koren on the first lap.

Fabiano Margheriti was able to coast to victory, over half a minute clear of second-placed Dingley. Koren completed the podium, while Chang finished fourth in his second Formula One race. Bruce Kerrigan was able to snatch 5th from Skylar West on the main straight, after West had to conserve fuel in the final laps of the race.

After the race, FIA stewards announced that Koren received a 10 second time penalty for his first corner collision with Dingley. The penalty promoted Chang onto the podium, a result Brabham desperately needed after not scoring a point since the Belgian Grand Prix.

### **Round 10: Germany**

Fabiano Margheriti was unchallenged by Skylar West after West had a poor getaway at the race start. West dropped to 7th before the field reached the first chicanet. Mick Ashcroft came together with McLaren's Sid Donnelly at the exit of the first chicane and Ashcroft span off but was able to continue the race, albeit at the back of the field. Arrows' Bruce Kerrigan misjudged his braking zone at the entrance to the stadium section and went wide as he was challenging West.

Chuck Dingley took the lead from Fabiano Margheriti at the end of the first lap but made a mistake on the next lap and relinquished the position to the Italian driver. After Dingley made his pitstop he emerged alongside Margheriti and the two drivers remained closely matched. Dingley's intense pressure on the Italian driver eventually forced Margheriti into a mistake and he took to the escape road before rejoining the track in 2nd. Margheriti continued to follow Dingley and made a brief challenge for the lead on the penultimate lap but was unable to find a way past the American. Dingley went on to win the race by just over five seconds ahead of Margheriti, with Stefan Van Damme in 3rd. Danilo Koren finished in 4th, whilst Bruce Kerrigan recovered to 5th to take another points finish. Vivaldo Margheriti was on to finish 6th but a mistake on the last lap at the Sachs Curve pushed him out of the points.

### **Round 11: Austria**

The top four maintained their positions off the start, with Vivaldo quickly attempting to build a gap. On lap eight Nyquist lost control of his car in the Texaco Schikane, overcorrecting and crashing into the outside barrier at over 150kph. Nyquist broke his left femur in the crash, and was forced to be airlifted to hospital.

Meanwhile the Margheriti brothers were battling for the lead intensly, until lap 12 when Fabiano tried to outbrake his brother at the end of the Texaco Schikane and ended up overshooting the corner, running off the track into the grass and spinning. The spin cost Fabiano over 20 seconds and dropped him from the lead to 8th.

Van Damme dropped behind Dingley during the pit stops. Dingley had his sights set on race leader Vivaldo, and after pressuring the Italian for multiple laps, found a way past on the 20th lap. Van Damme was able to pass Margheriti for 2nd before getting repassed by the Italian driver at the next corner.

Chuck Dingley crossed the line to win and claim his fourth Drivers' Championship, with Vivaldo Margheriti and Stefan Van Damme following closely behind to complete the podium. Danilo Koren recovered well from his early spin to take another strong for Alfa Romeo, while Australians Bruce Kerrigan and Mick Ashcroft completed the points. Fabiano Margheriti looked as if he possibly could have taken 4th from Koren on the final lap, but an engine failure due to overheating ended his race.

### **Round 12: Italy**

The Margheriti brothers controlled much of the race and were equally matched in pace, with Vivaldo coming under attack from McLaren's Donnelly in the late stages of the race. The pair collided just before the first chicane, and Vivaldo was forced off the track but continued into the race. Donnelly later caught and passed Fabiano but received a 10 second penalty for his incident with Vivaldo Margheriti, dropping him to 3rd in the final standings. Fabiano went on to win the race, followed by his brother Vivaldo, with Sid Donnelly in 3rd. This was the first Formula One finish where two brothers occupied the top steps of the podium.

## Results and Standings

### **Grands Prix**

\*The sixth round of the championship at Detroit was cancelled, after soaring temperatures resulted in the track surface breaking up at many points around the street circuit. The FIA announced shortly after the cancellation that a race would be held at Road America after the Canadian Grand Prix to make up for the cancelled round.