1952 German GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Nurburgring Nordschleife
* Location – Germany
* Corners – 24
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 11:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 9:55.800 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 10:14.696 (Yves-Girard Cabantous)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

## Qualifying 1

As the 1st qualifying session comes to an end a late flurry of activity decides the order with just 1 session remaining. Gerrard steams up the order with a brilliant lap-time to take an unlikely provisional pole; but he is quickly by team-mate and home favourite Paul Piestch, who in turn is unable to do anything to stop the lightning fast Gordini of Elie Bayol!

Landi is now down to 8th after being unable to match his early-session exploits, whilst an impressive showing from Hawthorn of Connaught could well give him his first GP start this season!

**Qualifying 1 Results**

* 1st – Elie Bayol [G] – 10:07.520 (4)
* 2nd – Paul Pietsch [F] – 10:11.480 (3)
* 3rd – Bob Gerrard [F] – 10:11.579 (4)
* 4th – Rudi Fischer [G] – 10:12.980 (2)
* 5th – Peter Whitehead [F] – 10:13.600 (4)
* 6th – Toulo de Graffenried [G] – 10:16.440 (3)
* 7th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F] – 10:18.174 (2)
* 8th – Chico Landi – 10:18.292 (3)
* 9th – Hans Klenk [M] – 10:20.719 (3)
* 10th – Franco Rol [M] – 10:22.578 (4)
* 11th – Peter Collins [M] – 10:24.299 (3)
* 12th – Giuseppe Farina [M] – 10:26.539 (2)
* 13th – David Murray [H] – 10:29.917 (3)
* 14th – Jean Behra [G] – 10:34.380 (2)
* 15th – Mike Hawthorn [CN] – 10:36.993 (3)
* 16th – Rudolf Krause [AF] – 10:42.342 (3)
* 17th – Alberto Ascari [CP] – 10:43.709 (3)
* 18th – Dennis Poore [CP] – 10:44.036 (3)
* 19th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [A] – 10:46.317 (3)
* 20th – Piero Taruffi [FN] – 10:51.248 (3)
* 21st – Hans Stuck [M] – 10:51.610 (4)
* 22nd – Josef Peters [V] – 10:56.020 (3)
* 23rd – Johnny Claes [CN] – 11:07.570 (4)
* 24th – Alan Brown [H] – No Time Set (0)
* 25th – Robert Manzon [G] – No Time Set (0)
* 26th – Louis Rosier [CI] – No Time Set (0)
* 27th – Stirling Moss [AB] – No Time Set (0)

## Qualifying 2

The Ferrari's dominate the 2nd session with their customary late surge. The Gordini's of Fischer and Bayol are 4th and 5th with the Maserati's next up surrounding the ailing Ferrari of Cabantous.

Peters, Stuck and - most surprisingly - Claes fail to make the grade today and wont compete in the race. A surprise too is Landi's drop off of pace as he is the only man not to improve on his Q1 time.

**Qualifying 2 Results**

* 1st – Bob Gerrard [F] – 9:59.976 (4)
* 2nd – Paul Pietsch [F] – 10:00.515 (4)
* 3rd – Peter Whitehead [F] – 10:00.716 (3)
* 4th – Rudi Fischer [G] – 10:02.900 (4)
* 5th – Elie Bayol [G] – 10:03.880 (4)
* 6th – Giuseppe Farina [M] – 10:05.998 (4)
* 7th – Yves-Girard Cabantous [F] – 10:06.791 (3)
* 8th – Hans Klenk [M] – 10:07.580 (4)
* 9th – Toulo de Graffenried [G] – 10:07.880 (4)
* 10th – Peter Collins [M] – 10:12.099 (3)
* 11th – David Murray [H] – 10:13.176 (4)
* 12th – Franco Rol [M] – 10:14.298 (1)
* 13th – Piero Taruffi [FN] – 10:19.069 (4)
* 14th – Jose Froilan Gonzalez [A] – 10:19.479 (3)
* 15th – Jean Behra [G] – 10:20.380 (4)
* 16th – Rudolf Krause [AF] – 10:22.346 (2)
* 17th – Alberto Ascari [CP] – 10:23.252 (4)
* 18th – Dennis Poore [CP] – 10:27.991 (3)
* 19th – Chico Landi – 10:28.020 (3)
* 20th – Mike Hawthorn [CN] – 10:29.193 (2)
* 21st – Josef Peters [V] – 10:31.744 (3)
* 22nd – Hans Stuck [M] – 10:34.518 (4)
* 23rd – Johnny Claes [CN] – 10:45.300 (4)

## Overall Qualifying Results

Pole position goes to Bob Gerrard, who of course won here last season. He will be challenged by home favourite Pietsch and team-mate Whitehead…that said the race pace of the others - the Maserati's particularly has often been easily enough to steal a march on the supposedly dominant Ferrai squadron.

Stuck loses out here at the track he made his debut at last season and took 2nd position, but this season he does not even qualify for the race. Peters and Claes are the other 2 in the same situation, though at least they attempted to qualify unlike those behind.

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* - Gerrard and Pietsch get away well, but Whitehead in the other Ferrari loses out to the quick-starting Bayol in the Gordini. Fischer drops down to 5th place ahead of Farina, Cabantous and Klenk.

Rol is up from 12th to 9th with Murray into 10th position at the expense of de Graffenried and Collins. Taruffi is into 13th position ahead of Gonzalez, Behra, Krause and Ascari as the real victim at the start is Chico Landi of BMW who drops several places from 13th to 18th. Hawthorn gets the better of Poore off the line and holds his position up until the end of lap 1.

*Lap 3* - Bayol passes Pietsch at Flugplatz to move into 2nd and split the Ferrari's, whilst another Ferrari in the shape of Cabantous is struggling as he loses 2 places to the Maserati's of Rol and Klenk. Gonzalez also passes Taruffi on this lap too.

Bayol's 2nd position is short-lived however as he pits and drops down to 14th position. Hawthorn also pits this time around too to drop to the rear of the field. Pietsch does not retain 2nd again though, as Whitehead passes him on the run up to the Mutkurve and Fischer is now right on his tail too.

*Lap 6* - Fischer pits along with Farina and Rol, the latter of whom manages to push past his team-mate at the stop by virtue of better track position on the pit-lane entry…much to the chagrin of Farina. Murray and Behra both pit this lap too; and all of that action means Klenk is now into 4th position from Cabantous and Collins in 6th place!

Further back Bayol is up to 8th position ahead of his recently pitted team-mate Fischer. But the Gordini pair are disappointed on lap 5 to find that Gerrard is a full 13 seconds up the road from them after his pit-stop. That puts Whitehead into the lead from Pietsch and Klenk now in a podium position for Maserati!!!

And on the very next lap it gets even better for the home favourite, as both Whitehead and Pietsch pit to gift Klenk the race lead for the 1st time this season! Gerrard is only 6 seconds behind in 2nd place, with the Ferrari's of Whitehead and Pietsch out in 3rd and 4th respectively. A 2nd stop for Bayol here means the Gordini driver is really setting a challenging benchmark for the amount of time he needs to claw back here!

*Lap 9* - Klenk finally pits to hand the lead back to Gerrard, who looks utterly peerless here. His team-mate Cabantous is having a tougher time of things, as not only does Klenk come out ahead of him but then loses a position to Bayol to drop down to 9th position. Gonzalez passes Ascari this lap too, as the Spaniard is still using the same set of tyres he started the race on, which must be incredibly worn by now!

On lap 8 Bayol is the real beneficiary as he passes Klenk to move up to 4th place, and manages to put Fischer behind him who emerges from the pits in between the aforementioned pair. Cabantous follows Klenk, with Rol and Farina now behind.

Lap 9 sees Bayol pit for the 3rd time and go down only to 9th place this time around…that promotes Fischer to 4th, Klenk to 5th and Cabantous to 6th ahead of the Maserati pair of Farina and Rol with the usual Ferrari trio making good progress up front.

*Lap 12* - Gerrard pits on lap 10 and drops behind his two team-mates, but ominously for the rest he does emerge ahead of all others! De Graffenried loses his top 10 position by pitting this lap, but due to Gonzalez also coming in he is only down to 11th behind Collins.

Cabantous pits on lap 11 as it seems the race has gone into a small lull here, with everyone seeming to have stabilised in their positions…

…that is short-lived though, as on lap 12 the two leaders pit along with Fischer from 4th and another 6 drivers behind too! And to add to the excitement Gonzalez loses a lot of time with a slow puncture, and coming round the blind crest of Schwalbenschwanz he is smashed into by Poore in the Cooper, eliminating both on the spot!

That means Gerrard is back into the lead from Whitehead and Pietsch with Klenk and Fischer in 4th and 5th now. Rol and Farina sit just ahead of Cabantous in 6th and 7th, with Bayol's unorthodox strategy doing him few favours right now back in 9th position ahead of de Graffenried, who rounds out the Top 10 right now.

*Lap 15* - Klenk pits on lap 13 to promote Fischer, Rol and Farina up to 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Behra also passes Landi here to move into 16th position in what must go down as a rather disappointing race for the Gordini driver.

On lap 14 Gerrard makes his 3rd and final stop and re-assumes his customary 3rd position, though up front Pietsch is starting to make some inroads into Whitehead's lead much to the joy of the German faithful watching him.

It's not all good for Ferrari though, as their forgotten 4th man Cabantous has a disastrous time at Quiddelbacher Hohe as he clips the kerb and is thrown into a nearby wooden fence, signalling the end of the race for the Frenchman. Both Fischer and Bayol pit on lap 15 too, which moves Maserati pair Farina and Rol into 4th and 5th, albeit likely to have 1 stop still to make.

*Lap 18* - On lap 16 Gerrard moves to within 3 seconds of Pietsch, as the German drops to 6 behind Whitehead who is looking good to finally take a race win here! Farina and Rol both pit to promote Klenk and Fischer to 4th and 5th, though the Swiss is gaining quickly on the German with very little time left and about 14 seconds between them! Further back Ascari's engine lets go on the run into Schwalbenschwanz and so we must say adios to the Spaniard for now…

Very little to report on the penultimate lap, other than Rol passing Farina for 6th, which seems of little consequence now given that they are a good 30 seconds off the points positions.

But that all changes on lap 18…the crowds in the grandstand cheer through the only lapped runner Hawthorn (who eventually will finish 16th overall) before the chequered flag drops and across the line comes Peter Whitehead for a brilliant tactical victory by 5 seconds over Paul Pietsch, who will be disappointed not to win on home soil, and with the fastest man on the day Bob Gerrard a further 9 seconds or so down in 3rd.

The crowd await Klenk's arrival in 4th…but as a Maserati hones into view there is confusion, as it is none other than Franco Rol, hotly pursued by Giuseppe Farina! The two cross the line 4th and 5th, and the reports begin to come in that a big crash has occurred earlier in the lap. Attention had been focused on David Murray's accident in front of the grandstand, which eliminated the Englishman and condemned him to 15th overall.

It seems that at Hohe Acht there was a coming together between Klenk and Fischer, which wiped the Swiss out and meant the German endeavoured to crawl to the finish line, only to run out of momentum at Schwalbenschwanz…and thus allowing all other runners on the same lap to hurtle past the two of them.

Which means Bayol's experimental strategy earns him 6th position ahead of Collins in 7th, de Graffenried in 8th, Taruffi in 9th and Krause in an unexpected - though welcome - 10th position. Behra and Landi round out the finishers on the lead lap in 11th and 12th positions respectively.