Track map of Watkins Glen International (1956-1970)

The 1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours was an endurance race held at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course, New York, United States on July 11, 1970. It was the ninth round of the 1970 World Sportscar Championship season.^[1]

Pre-race

John Wyer's team had not won a race since Spa and they came off a disastrous attempt at winning Le Mans; losing all three of their cars in 10 hours and the race to their sister team, Porsche Salzburg. Mario Andretti returned to Ferrari to try to help the great marque repeat their triumph at Sebring less than 4 months previously. Ferrari were keen on doing this; a win here would be sufficient comeuppance for them after their humiliating Le Mans run; all four works cars had retired after 4 hours and 4 of 6 other privately entered 512's also retired.

This particular race was one of 4 timed races on the calendar; the others being at Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans. It was the only 6 hour race on the calendar in 1970.

Qualifying once again went to a Porsche; the Jo Siffert/Brian Redman 917K managed to edge out the Andretti/Giunti Ferrari 512S and the Rodriguez/Kinnunen 917K by three tenths of a second.

This would be the last Watkins Glen 6 Hours race on the original circuit. The circuit was rebuilt for the next year; they used the short track (as the extension had not yet been finished) and the whole track in 1972.

Race

At the start, Andretti took the lead from Siffert, but the Swiss driver took the lead back from Andretti on the third lap. He then lost the lead to Rodriguez. Later on in the race, Rodriguez attempted to switch off the 917K's headlights; but instead he switched off the fuel pumps, and the engine started to fail. Rodriguez was about to come into the pits, but then he realized what he had done, switched the pumps on, and then stormed through the field, made fastest lap and he & Kinnunen went on to win for the 4th time in the season. Wyer's team finished 1-2, and both cars finished on the same lap, with the works Ferrari of Andretti/Giunti completing the podium.

Official results

Watkins Glen in 1970

The Martini Racing blue and green "psychedelic" livery on a 1970 917K, as raced at Watkins Glen in 1970.

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1	S 5.0	2	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Pedro Rodríguez Leo Kinnunen	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	308
2	S 5.0	1	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Jo Siffert Brian Redman	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	308
3	S 5.0	92	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Mario Andretti Ignazio Giunti	Ferrari 512S Spyder	Ferrari 5.0L V12	305
4	S 5.0	31	Porsche-Audi USA	Vic Elford Denny Hulme	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	302
5	S 5.0	91	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Jacky Ickx Peter Schetty	Ferrari 512S Spyder	Ferrari 5.0L V12	298
6	S 5.0	32	Porsche-Audi USA	Richard Attwood Kurt Ahrens Jr.	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.9L Flat-12	295
7	P 3.0	36	Martini International Racing	Helmut Marko Rudi Lins	Porsche 908/02	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8	288
8	S 5.0	50	Ecurie Bonnier	Jo Bonnier Reine Wisell	Lola T70 Mk.3B	Chevrolet 5.0L V8	264
9	S 5.0	35	Martini International Racing	Gijs van Lennep Gérard Larrousse	Porsche 917K	Porsche 4.5L Flat-12	260
10	GT +2.5	9	Bob Grossman	Bob Grossman Don Yenko	Chevrolet Camaro 427	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	243
11	S 2.0	52	Dr. Mervin Rosen	Merv Rosen Dick Jacobs	Porsche 906	Porsche 1.9L Flat-6	241
12	S 2.0	53	Mike Rahal	Hugh Wise Werner Frank	Porsche 906	Porsche 1.9L Flat-6	236
13	GT 2.5	77	Bruce Jennings	Bob Tuillus Bruce Jennings	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	233
14	GT 2.5	41	Jim Bandy	Jim Bandy Bruce Cargill	Lotus Europa	Ford 1.6L I4	233
15	S 2.0	39	Rainer Brezinka	Rainer Brezinka Horst Petermann Rudy Bartling	Porsche 906	Porsche 1.9L Flat-6	231
16	GT 2.0	84	Ralph Meaney	Gary Wright Francis C. Grant	Porsche 911S	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	223
17	P 2.0	46	Jim Baker	Wayne Christian Charles Reynolds Bobby Rinzler	Chevron B16	Ford 1.8L I4	223
18	GT 2.5	70	Sylvain Garant	Andre Wicky Sylvain Garant	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.2L Flat-6	217
19	P 2.0	46	Jim Baker	Paul Richards Jim Baker	Chevron B16	Ford 1.8L I4	206
20	GT 2.5	94	Ralph Meaney	Ralph Meaney Stephen Behr	Porsche 914/6 GT	Porsche 1.9L Flat-6	181

Did Not Finish

Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
GT +2.5	20	John Greenwood	Allan Barker John Greenwood	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	116
GT 2.5	37	Sunoco Canada	Jacques Duval George Nicholas	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.0L Flat-6	92
GT +2.5	63	Robert Luebbe	Robert Luebbe Michael Summers	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	85
S 5.0	33	Georg Loos	Georg Loos Franz Pesch	Ferrari 512S	Ferrari 5.0L V12	24
GT +2.5	63	William A. Schumacher	Bill Schumacher Robert R. Johnson	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	8
P 3.0	53	A. G. Dean Ltd.	Tony Dean Peter Revson	Porsche 908/02	Porsche 3.0L Flat-8	3

Statistics

• Pole position: #1 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 917K (Jo Siffert/Brian Redman) - 1:06.3 (127.581 mph/205.322 km/h)
• Fastest lap: #2 John Wyer Automotive Engineering Porsche 917K (Pedro Rodriguez)- 1:04.9 (124.833 mph/200.898 km/h)
• Time taken for winning car to cover scheduled distance: 6 hours and 47.7 seconds
• Average Speed: 189.592 km/h (117.807 mph)
• Weather conditions: Sunny

References