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1983 Brno 
  Go 1984 Zeltweg 
1983 Nurburgring 
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500 km Österreichring

Österreichring, Zeltweg, Austria

Date: 26/6/1983
Track length: 5.941 m
Attendance: 10.000
Entries accepted: 55
Starters: 40
Finishers: 27

Pole position: Walkinshaw/Brundle in 2.06,34
Fastest lap: Vojtech in 2.08,35 = 166,676 kmh

Distance: 3,5 hours
Average speed: 162,558 kmh
Weather:
Ruleset: Group A
Car info: 1983 Cars

 

The Jaguar XJS of Martin Brundle and Tom Walkinshaw took an easy victory at the Österreichring on Sunday, in the seventh round of the European Touring Car Championship, Second place, making it a Jaguar 1-2, fell to Pierre Dieudonné and Enzo Calderari, although the BMW 635 CSi of Hans Stuck and Walter Brun was only four seconds behind at the finish.
However, the real story of the race concerned all the protests that BMW threw in Jaguar's direction over the weekend. Walkinshaw was ready for some sort of flak as soon as TWR arrived in Austria, where BMW had even obtained a standard XJS for comparison; but even he was surprised at the lengths BMW's Dieter Stappert went to prove the Jaguars illegal.
On Friday at scrutineering, the Jags were singled out for attention to their rear suspension and engine capacity. TWR refused until the BMW's had been checked for similar reasons and then on Saturday after the Jags were declared legal, Schnitzer protested the rear wheel arches, rear suspension and oil coolers. The Stewards met again and still found nothing wrong, but the story carried on.
In the race, Stappert allegedly took FISA officials down to the Jaguar pit where he is reported to have shown them five mechanics working on the cars (the rules say only four are allowed). However, FISA apparently then went back to Stappert claiming they had seen seven people working on a BMW!
When the race had finished, the Jaguars were protested again and in retaliation, TWR protested the front suspension, wheel arches and alloy plates on the radiator grilles of the Schnitzer cars, the latter only there to improve straight-line speed, it is said. All this marred both the race and the championship, which has hauled itself out of the mire during the last two seasons with the adoption of Group A rules. Hopefully, everything will die down before the next race at Nürburgring.
On the track, drizzle in the last 30 minutes enabled wet weather ace Stuck to reel in Dieudonné who was struggling on the slippery track. However, the Belgian just managed to retain his second place. Behind Delcourt and Swyssen, Helmut Kelleners joined Marco Vanoli and René Hollinger after the BMW 635 CSi he shared with Umberto Grano broke another clutch after just four laps. A similar problem claimed the Schnitzer car of Dieter Quester and ATS F1 driver Manfred Winkelhock.
For the first time in the up to 2500 cc class, the Alfa Romeos were beaten by the BMW 323i of Vogt and Joachim Winkelhock, which at least makes the manufacturers championship battle much more interesting. (MN)

Division 1, 2 and 3
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 7 TWR
Jaguar XJ-S		 Tom Walkinshaw, GB
Martin Brundle, GB
 5344 V12 Div. 3 96 laps, 3:30.33,75 1 2.06,34    
2 2 8 TWR
Jaguar XJ-S		 Enzo Calderari, CH
Pierre Dieudonné, B
 5344 V12 Div. 3 96 laps, 3:30.53,96 2 2.06,49    
3 3   Schnitzer
BMW 635 CSi		 Hans-Joachim Stuck, D
Walter Brun, CH
 3475 L6 Div. 3 96 laps, 3:30.58,10 3 2.07,50    
4 4   GTM Engineering
BMW 635 CSi		 Michel Delcourt, B
Dany Swyssen, B
Jean-Marie Baert, B
 3475 L6 Div. 3 95 10 2.09,69    
5 5   Eggenberger Motorsport
BMW 635 CSi		 Marco Vanoli, CH
René Hollinger, CH
Helmut Kelleners, D
 3475 L6 Div. 3 94 7 2.08,09    
6 6   D. Fornage
BMW 635 CSi		 Dominique Fornage, F
Johannes Wollstadt, D
 3475 L6 Div. 3 93 12 2.10,81    
7 7    
BMW 635 CSi		 Jean-Louis Bos, F
Jean-Christian Duby, F
 3475 L6 Div. 3 91 11 2.10,28    
8 1 42 Linder Rennsport
BMW 323i		 Joachim Winkelhock, D
Winfried Vogt, D
 2330 L6 Div. 2 90 20 2.15,49    
9 2   Jolly Club Milano/Imberti
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Lella Lombardi, I
Giancarlo Naddeo, I
 2491 V6 Div. 2 90 13 2.11,24    
10 8 9 Lucky Strike Team (Delcourt)
BMW 528i		 Philippe Bervoets ("Davit"), B
Francois-Xavier Boucher, B
 2799 L6 Div. 3 90 26 2.16,91    
11 1   RAS Sport/Belgian VW Club
VW Scirocco GTI		 Philippe Ménage, B
Pierre-Alain Thibaut, B
 1596 L4 Div. 1 89/90? 25 2.16,44    
12 9    
Volvo 240 Turbo		 Thomas Lindström, S
Ingemar Persson, S
 2141 tc L4 Div. 3 89 19 2.14,71    
13 3    
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Roberto Marazzi, I
Duilio Truffo, I
 2491 V6 Div. 2 89 17 2.14,57    
14 4   Scuderia Autolodi Corse S.r.l.
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Rinaldo Drovandi, I
Gianfranco Brancatelli, I
 2491 V6 Div. 2 88 14 2.11,60    
15 10    
Volvo 240 Turbo		 Per Stureson, S
Ingemar Persson, S
 2141 tc L4 Div. 3 88 27 2.16,98    
16 2 63  
Audi 80		 Peter Seikel, D
Lothar Schörg, A
 1596 L4 Div. 1 88 30 2.18,50    
17 6/5? 35 Luigi Racing
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Maurizio Micangeli, I
Marcello Gallo, I
 2491 V6 Div. 2 88 22 2.15,80    
18 5/6?    
Opel Kadett GT/E		 Robert Schumacher, D
Hermann Tilke, D
 1979 L4 Div. 2 87 41 2.30,80    
19 3    
VW Golf GTI		 Hans-Jörn Ley, D
Josef Rietmann, D
 1596 L4 Div. 1 86 36 2.21,80    
20 4    
Alfa Romeo Alfasud TI 1.5		 Herbert Lingmann, D
Ludwig Hölzl, D
 1498 B4 Div. 1 84 35 2.21,76    
21 5   AK Donit Olimpija
Audi 80 GLE		 Francy Jerancic, YU
Dragomil Bozic, YU
 1596 L4 Div. 1 83 38 2.24,82    
22 6    
Ford Escort RS 1600i		 Girolamo Capra, I
Pietro Clemente, I
Giovanni da Schio, I
 1598 L4 Div. 1 83 40 2.26,26    
23 7    
VW Golf GTI		 Axel Huweler, B
Alfons Hohenester, D
 1596 L4 Div. 1 82 18 2.14,65    
DNF   3 Schnitzer
BMW 635 CSi		 Dieter Quester, A
Manfred Winkelhock, D
 3475 L6 Div. 3   4 2.07,57   Clutch
DNF     Eggenberger/BMW Italia
BMW 635 CSi		 Helmut Kelleners, D
Umberto Grano, I
 3475 L6 Div. 3   5 2.07,75   Clutch
DNF     Hartge Motorsport
BMW 635 CSi		 Zdenek Vojtech, CS
Bretislav Enge, CS
(Hans Heyer, D)
 3475 L6 Div. 3   6 2.07,77 2.08,35 Lost front wheel
DNF     Hartge Motorsport
BMW 635 CSi		 Walter Nussbaumer, CH
Herbert Hartge, D
Milos Bychl, CS
 3475 L6 Div. 3   8 2.09,33   Fuel pump
DNF   36 Luigi Racing
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Marco Micangeli, I
Giorgio Francia, I
 2491 V6 Div. 2   24 2.16,16   Gearbox
DNF      
BMW 635 CSi		 Georges Bosshard, CH
Hans-Jürg Dürig, CH
 3475 L6 Div. 3   9 2.09,48    
DNF      
Mazda RX-7		 Michael Mitterer, A
Helmut Rockenbauer, D
Walter Plank, A
 2 x 573 R2 Div. 2   15 2.13,27    
DNF     Alfa Romeo Deutschland
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Toni Fischhaber, D
Mario Ketterer, D
Herbert Lingmann, D
 2491 V6 Div. 2   16 2.14,09    
DNF      
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Marco Curti ("Spiffero"), I
Manfred Trint, D
 2491 V6 Div. 2   21 2.15,65    
DNF   61 RAS Sport/Belgian VW Club
VW Scirocco GTI		 Daniël Herregods, B
Willi Bergmeister, D
 1596 L4 Div. 1   23 2.16,05    
DNF      
Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV/6		 Antonio Palma, I
Bonifacio Di Gaetani, I
Duilio Ghislotti, I
 2491 V6 Div. 2   28 2.18,36    
DNF      
VW Golf GTI		 Guy Pirenne, B
Guyeux, B
 1596 L4 Div. 1   29 2.18,44    
DNF      
VW Scirocco GTI		 Helmut Pflieger, D
Elmar Hölscher, D
 1596 L4 Div. 1   31 2.19,22    
DNF     RAS Sport/Belgian VW Club
VW Scirocco GTI		 Bernard Carlier, B
Georges Cremer, B
 1596 L4 Div. 1   32 2.19,83    
DNF      
VW Golf GTI		 Friedrich-Wilhelm Stallmann, D
Wolfgang Merten, D
 1596 L4 Div. 1   34 2.21,74    
DNF      
VW Golf GTI		 Pierre Fermine, B
Serge De Liedekerke, B
 1596 L4 Div. 1   37 2.23,06    
DNF     Besico Team
Ford Capri III 3.0S		 Harald Hinz, D
Peter Niedermüller, D
 2993 V6 Div. 3   39 2.26,01    
DNS     Autolodi
Alfa Romeo Alfasud TI 1.5		 Luigi Calamai, I
Luca Cesarini, I
 1498 B4 Div. 1   33 2.19,89   Accident