48èmes Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans 1980
Circuit Permanenthe de la Sarthe
Date: June 14th and 15th, 1980
Conditions: n/a
Starters: 44
Track Length: 13,626 metres
Distance: 4608.020 km
Fastest Lap: John Fitzpatrick, Porsche 935 K3, 3:40.020 = 222.177 km/h
Pole Position: John Fitzpatrick, Porsche 935 K3, 3:40.020 = 222.177 km/h
Average Speed: 191.899 km/h
The 1980 Le Mans 24-hours classic was won by a Le Point ITT. It was a Cosworth-Ford DFV-engined three-litre Group 6 'coupe', built in Le Mans itself. Another was to finish third. Built by local engineer Jean Rondeau, 34, (he was also an interior decorator) the cars started life in 1976 as Inalteras (being a French wallpaper manufacturer), but Rondeau decided to keep at it after Inaltera withdrew from racing in 1978, even though the 1980 race involved him going into debt to the tune of US$400,000. The cars were known as Rondeaus really, but the 1980 entries were assisted by a publishing house (hence the name on the Le Mans cars), and the victory marked the first in the history of the 67-year-old race to be won by a car from a 'non-manufacturer'.
Belgian retired ace Jacky Ickx made one more last appearance at the wheel of a Porsche 908/80 (a 2.1-litre turbo hybrid), partnered by Leclere and Joest, to try and net his fifth Le Mans win, and for a long time it looked as though he would do it. After eight hours of leadership the car broke its fifth gear and a 28-minute pit-stop was necessary. At 10 am on the Sunday morning Rondeau and Jaussaud (1978 co-winner in a Renault-turbo) passed into the lead, never again to be headed. Ickx took second place and vowed it was, “positively”, his last Le Mans race appearance. Running in the IMSA category, Australian saloon car champion Allan Moffat, driving a Porsche 93b K3 (with ex-F2 driver Bobby Rahal and Bob Garretson) gave a promising performance, but after ten hours the car was forced to retire with head gasket troubles.
It seemed the French were determined to win the 1980 race as the scrutineering eliminated many 'foreign cars' due to the zany chauvinism which seemed to be so peculiarly Gallic, and the newly-instituted 'qualification' runs which took the average of all team-members' lap times instead of being for individual drivers, eliminated all sorts of promising cars and drivers. One victim was the brilliant South African (but UK resident) lady Desire Wilson who was involved in a spectacular crash in practice, and was told she would not be permitted to race because of the pile-up. She hadn't qualified, they said. So de Cadanet had to enlist the services of Frenchman Migault (the de Cadanet car "stood a good chance of victory), and the ACO (Automobile Club de J'Quest) gradually whittled the 65-car field down to 55.
So much skulduggery went on that many of the British entrants and drivers threatened to sue the ACO. The British Prime Minister's son Mark Thatcher demonstrated growing skill (he had been racing only 12 months from a 'Celebrity' event at Brands Hatch in a production saloon), holding second place in the two-litre class for several hours. He shared the Osella-BMW with Italian girl driver Leila Lombardi, but the Englishman finally spun the car off and retired it at 6:45am on the Sunday morning.
Rondeau and Jassaud covered 338 laps to win (4605.88 km) at 191.989 km, in spite of plenty of heavy rain. Second was the Ickx/Joest/Leclere Porsche 908/80 (336 laps), and third the Spice/Martin/Martin Rondeau DFV (329 laps) which also won the GPT class. British drivers did well, Gordon Spice being one of the drivers of the third-place car, John Fitzpatrick and Brian Redman bringing home the fifth-place Porsche 93b turbo, with American Dick Barbour, and winning the IMSA class in the process. Alain de Cadanet took seventh place (with Migault) in his incredible de Cadanet LM-DFV, notching-up third place in the Group 6 class, even after a lengthy pit-stop to replace a broken chassis member.
CLASS WINNERS
Index of Thermal Efficiency
J. Rondeau / J-P. Jaussaud
Rondeau M 379 B
Group 6, Sports over 2000 cc
J. Rondeau / J-P. Jaussaud
Rondeau M 379 B
Group 6, Sports under 2000 cc
P. Hesnault / B. Sotty / D. Laurent
Chevron - ROC B36
GT Prototype
G. Spice / P. Martin / J.M. Martin
Rondeau M 379 B
IMSA
J. Fitzpatrick / B. Redman / R. Barbour
Porsche 935 K3
Group 5
D. Schornstein / H. Grohs / G. von Tschirnhaus
Porsche 935
Group 4
T. Perrier / R. Carmillet
Porsche 911 SC
GTX
No finishers
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Piercarlo Ghinzani, I
Markku Alén, SF (DND)
Gianfranco Brancatelli, I (DND) DNS Giorgio Pianta, I
DNS Walter Röhrl, D
DNS Eddie Cheever, USA
DNS Riccardo Patrese, I
1425
Turbo
L4
G5
26
4h
Oil pump
51
DNF
79
Scuderia Supercar Bellancauto Srl, I
Ferrari 512 BB
Spartaco Dini, I
Fabrizio Violati, I
Maurizio Micangeli, I DNS Renzo Zorzi, I
DNS Gianpiero Moretti
4942
F12
IMSA
10
2h
Accident
52
DNF
68
Racing Associates Inc., USA
Porsche 935 K3 (Kremer)
Charles Mendez, USA
Skeeter McKitterick, USA (DND)
Leon Walger, RA (DND)
2992
Turbo
F6
IMSA
9
2h
Accident
53
DNF
72
Dick Barbour Racing - Wynns International, USA
Porsche 935
Mike Sherwin, USA
Robert 'Bob' Kirby, USA (DND)
Bob Harmon, USA (DND) DNS Siegfried Brunn, D
DNS Bob Garretson, USA
DNS Bobby Rahal, USA
2994
F6
IMSA
7
2h
Collision, lost wheel
54
DNF
20
Jean-Philippe Grand, F
Chevron B36 - BMW M12
Yves Courage, F
Jean-Philippe Grand, F (DND) DNS Jacque Heuclin, F