Race Report: Silverstone, 14 May 1972

silv_14_5_72
Held the day after the Monaco F3 race the entry was based more on quantity than quality although several top names appeared notably Roger Williamson who, despite injuring his foot in his Monaco accident, flew back to drive the prototype GRD 372 usually handled by Andy Sutcliffe. Jeremy Gambs led away at the start in his Ensign F372 but soon found himself demoted so that at the end of lap 1 it was Williamson from Skeaping and von Opel. Skeaping put the Chevron into the lead at Woodcote on lap 2 but Williamson immediately retook first spot and gradually pulled away from the rest of the field to take an easy victory. Rikki von Opel took second place from Skeaping on lap 5 and although the Chevron driver stayed on the tail of the Ensign for the rest of the race he never looked like regaining second place. The main battle was for fourth between ex-MGB racer Tony Binnington (March 713M), Masami Kuwashima (GRD 372), Ross Ambrose (Lotus 69) and Ray Mallock (U2 Mk12).

Binnington appeared to be coming out on top until lap 9 when some barging at Woodcote saw Ambrose push the March into the sleepers, although the car was badly damaged luckily Binnington was unhurt. Ambrose also spun in the melee allowing Kuwashima and Mallock to pull away, the wildly driven GRD and the U2 fought over fourth until lap 13 when Mallock got ahead and eased away over the remaining two laps.

f3 HISTORY

RACES

Race Report: Silverstone, 14 May 1972

Race Heat 1

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 20:09.40

2 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 20:09.50

3 Luigi Fontanesi

Tecno-Ford 20:13.10

4 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 20:23.40

Race Heat 2

1 Giovanni Lo Voi

Brabham-Ford BT28 15:05.00

2 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 15:05.00

3 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 15:21.00

4 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 15:34.10

5 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28

Race Final

1 Vittorio Brambilla

Birel Alfa Romeo 30:44.30 144.318

2 Marcello Gallo

Brabham BT28 30:44.34

3 Fabrizio Noe

Lotus-Ford 69 30:45.10

4 Adelmo Fossati

Brabham BT28 30:55.40

5 Patrice Compain

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00

6 Carlo Franchi (Gimax)

De Sanctis-Alfa Romeo 31:11.50

7 Manfred Möhr

Lotus-Ford 31:59.60

8 Giovanni Lo Voi

Martini-Ford MW7 31:08.00