Race Report: Monaco, 26 May 1974

A seventy strong entry was reduced via qualifying to two heats of twenty four cars each, the fastest ten from each heat would then go forward into the final. There was a late appearance by Tom Pryce after his entry in the Grand Prix driving the Token was refused and he certainly proved his point with a totally dominant performance over the F3 regulars.

Tom Pryce was uncatchable in Heat 1, he was over a second and a half quicker than the next man in qualifying and he went straight into the lead. The Ippokampos March then pulled away from the rest of the field, easing off in the closing stages to help an overheating engine, and winning by some fifteen seconds. Behind Pryce there was a brief two car battle between the Marches of Giorgio Francia and Sandro Cinotti until Francia spun on the second lap. Tony Brise moved up the third place from his fifth row start and put Cinotti under intense pressure finally getting past on lap 10, Cinotti didn’t give up and the two cars finished a couple of lengths apart after the 15 laps. Retirements included Derek Lawrence’s Ehrlich and the Modus of Rudi Gigax who were out following a start line fracas, Larry Perkins lost half a lap in his March 743 in the incident but drove really well to move up to seventh and qualify for the final.

Brian Henton took the lead from pole position in Heat 2 in the works March 743 with Renzo Zorzi slotting into second in his GRD 374, next up came Alberto Colombo (GRD 374), Ulf Svensson (Brabham BT41), Luciano Brunelli (March 743) and Gaudenzio Mantova (Brabham BT41). Half way up the hill after the start there was a big accident, Tony Rouff’s GRD made contact with an Italian car blocking the track, Barrie Maskell stopped his Dastle on the pavement with nowhere else to go and was promptly hit by a couple more runners. A couple more cars joined in the fun on lap 2 including Brunelli whilst Svensson dropped to the rear of the field following a spin.
Back at the front it was still Henton leading from Zorzi, Colombo, and Mantova, Colombo demoting Zorzi to third on lap 3. Colombo then pulled away from Zorzi but could do nothing about Henton finishing some seven seconds down at the flag. Zorzi and Mantova spent the rest of the race battling over third, it became very physical on occasions with Mantova’s nosecone bearing the scars after the race.

The first two rows for the final consisted of Tom Pryce, Brian Henton, Tony Brise and Alberto Colombo. Henton made the best start to lead Colombo and Pryce but on lap 2 Superhen spun and dropped to third. Pryce now led from Colombo having passed the Italian without difficulty next up came Henton, Brise, Francia, Cinotti and Zorzi. Pryce soon left the others behind as he pulled away from the group battling over second place by a second a lap while Henton fell to the back of the field with a second spin on lap 5. Brise was trying hard to keep in touch with Colombo whilst Cinotti and Francia were just far enough behind to give him some breathing space. Unfortunately the race now fell into a rather boring procession with no one apparently able to get past anyone else.
Colombo had an unlucky lap 13, as he approached Ste Devote he lost control of the GRD and had an enormous accident from which he was lucky to emerge unscathed. Brise was now holding second following Colombo’s demise, third was Cinotti from Francia, Zorzi and Alex Ribeiro who was hampered by understeer caused by a damaged nosecone. There were no further changes to the front of the field and Tom Pryce came home an easy winner despite clipping the chicane with his rear wheel a few laps from the finish when he lost concentration. Brian Henton had clawed his way back to tenth place but yet another spin at the swimming pool saw his March hit the barriers backwards spelling immediate retirement.

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