F3 History

Henton jumped into the lead of Heat 1 after a great start from the second row, he was chased by Alex Ribeiro, Gunnar Nordström, Alberto Colombo and Conny Andersson. Henton had a big lead at the end of lap 1 with Ribeiro still second ahead of Gaudenzio Mantova, Gunnar Nilsson, Giorgio Francia, Nordström and Dieter Kern. Superhen had increased his lead at the end of lap 2 but part way round the next lap the March driver came upon a sudden rain shower and combined with an oily track Henton lost control and spun off. Francia now took the lead from Ribeiro who was being attacked by Andersson, next came a squabbling bunch comprising Nilsson, Ulf Svensson and Willi Deutsch with Harald Ertl’s Rheinland (nee Eifelland-nee March) next.
Mantova, Colombo and Kern managed to come to grief in the wet at Bergwerk but up front Francia was untroubled and came home an easy winner ahead of the three Swedes, Nilsson, Andersson and Svensson. Retirements included Tony Brise was out on the first lap with a damaged nose when Cinotti spun in front of him and Larry Perkins who was involved in an accident with Mantova.

Brian Henton was able to make the start of the second heat when his car was repaired using parts from team mate Jose Chateaubriand’s car, the Brazilian having retired from Heat 1 following a spin. Francia took the lead from the start in Heat 2 and dominated proceedings leading from flag to flag and leading Nilsson home by 10 seconds. Ribeiro had held second to begin with chased hard by Nilsson and Andersson with Svensson joining in after three laps. Andersson had a bit of a moment and dropped back to fifth as both Nilsson and Svensson passed Ribeiro.
Further back Willi Deutsch and Harald Ertl had been having a good dice until the gear lever broke in Ertl’s car which allowed F Ford graduate Hans Binder up to seventh ahead of Nick von Preussen. After the race it was discovered that Ribeiro had damaged suspension following early contact with Francia making his fourth place finish all the more commendable. Henton retired again unhappy with the handling of the car following its speedy rebuild.