GIJS VAN LENNEP

Written by Carlos de Paula, translator, writer and historian based in Miami

 

Born 3/16/1942, Bloemendaal, Holland

Starts:8

Points: 2

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

 

It all started to come good for Van Lennep in 1970. After a few years driving various Porsches and even the DAF Formula 3 device, Gijs rose to some prominence in 1970 driving for the AAW team, in the World Championship of Makes. In the same year when he won the Le Mans 24 Hour race for the first time, 1971, Gijs got a sponsored drive at Surtees, debuting in the Dutch GP. He qualified 21st and finished 8th, in a very wet race. He also practiced for the USA GP, but Sam Posey ended up driving the car. After a year away from Formula 1, Van Lennep was one of several drivers to drive for Frank William’s Iso Marlboro in 1973, initially in the Dutch Grand Prix. He did very well, finished 6th and was the first driver to score points with a Williams designed and produced car, the recalcitrant Iso Marlboro. Gijs got a couple more rides with Williams that year, Austria (9th) and Italy (retired). Williams used Van Lennep’s services again in 1974, with less success, even though that year’s Iso Marlboro was actually a better car. In Belgium he finished 14th, and failed to qualify at Holland. The Dutch HB Bewaking Alarm company sponsored the Ensign team in 1975, and Van Lennep was a clear choice as driver. He run three times with the team, finishing all three races. In the German GP, which turned out to be his last Grand Prix, Van Lennep finished 6th and also gave Ensign its first point ever. After that there was no Formula 1 for Van Lennep, who would still get a second Le Mans win in 1976, retiring for good from the sport.


VAN LENNEP'S CAREER OUT OF FORMULA 1

Dutchman Van Lennep had a short but significant career. He began driving Formula Vees in his native Holland, and in the mid 60’s he was Daf’s Formula 3 driver also racing a Brabham Ford on occasion. He eventually graduated to more powerful machinery, namely, assorted Porsche sports cars for Ben Pon’s team, which he raced in assorted events in the World Championship of Makes. He eventually made it to the Porsche works team in 1967, but ended up racing for privateer teams again, in 1968 and 1969, trying his hands in Abarths and Alpines, in addition to the ubiquitous Porsches. Overall results were poor in those years. By 1970, Van Lennep had been hired by the Finnish AAIW Racing team, a second rate privateer Porsche specialist. Gijs also raced an Abarth on the 2 Liter championship, on occasion, finishing 3rd in Mugello. His performances were enough to entice Martini Porsche to hire him for 1971. Van Lennep did win Le Mans in 1971, with Helmut Marko, which placed him much in evidence. However the 5 liters were outlawed for 1972, and Gijs ended up racing for Jo Bonnier’s team, which Lola 3 liter cars were fast, but unreliable. The highlight of Gijs year in the Makes championship was scoring fastest lap in Le Mans, the event in which team boss Bonnier lost his life. However, Van Lennep also decided to take on F-5000 in 1972, and did well enough to win the European championship, driving a Surtees and winning two events. He continued to race in F-5000 in 1973, with much less success, but was hired by the Porsche works to develop the Porsche Carrera Turbo. Van Lennep again had a significant victory, winning the last edition of the Targa Florio valid for the world championship, sharing the Carrera Turbo with Herbert Muller. This was also the first world championship win by a Turbo car. Van Lennep continued to race the Carrera in 1974, finishing Le Mans in second place. He also finished 6nd, in a Kremer Porsche, in the 6 Hours of Monza of 1974, valid for the Euro GT Championship. In 1975, Gijs raced an assortment of Porsches in the Makes championship, from an elderly 908, to a GT 911, with several co drivers, including old pals Kinnunen and Herbert Muller. In 1976, Van Lennep was slated to drive in Le Mans with Jacky Ickx, in the Porsche 936. This turned out to be victory number 3 for Jacky, # 2 for Van Lennep, and the last race of his career. What a way to retire!!

ROLF STOMMELEN

 

7/11/1943, Siegen, Germany

Deceased Riverside, USA 4/24/1983

Starts: 54

Points: 14

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

 

Rarely is a driver’s first Formula 1 season his absolute best, especially when a driver hasa long GP career, as was Stommelen’s case. A sports car driver by excellence, who was drafted into the Porsche team after some useful hill climbing performances, Stommelen got a crack in the Formula 1 circus in the F2 section of the German Grand Prix, in 1969. He was 8th in the race and 9th in class, driving a Lotus for Roy Winkelmann. His Formula 1 debut proper took place in the South Africa GP of 1970. Aided by sponsorship from the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Rolf was retained by Brabham to run alongside team boss Jack. Rolf normally qualified poorly, save for a 7th place in Belgium, but ended up scoring points in four occasions. The first time was in Belgium, where he finished 5th. He placed 5th in Germany as well, and then had an excellent 3rd in Austria, followed by a third straight points paying position, in Italy. This gave Stommelen a total of 10 points for the year, showing he had some talent as a single seater driver as well. For 1971, Rolf took his magazine sponsorship to the Surtees team, but in spite of racing competitively in the non-championship Argentine race, the relationship with Surtees did not gell. Rolf did score points on two occasions, in Monaco, 6th place, and Silverstone, 5th, and his best qualifying performances were 10th in Holland and France. Not surprisingly, Rolf was not back at Surtees the following year, instead was lured to drive for the newly formed Eifelland team. The car was essentially a March 721 with a novel, if ineffective, body by Lurani. The car was never even close to competitive, however, Stommelen showed reliability finishing 6 races. By the end of the year the team folded, and Stommelen was out of a GP drive. An opportunity arose in 1973, when Andrea de Adamich got injured in the British GP, vacating the third Brabham entry. With the BT42 Rolf had a halfway decent car, in fact qualifying 9th in Monza, however, there were no points scored that year. Still Alfa Romeo’s fastest sports car driver in 1974, Stommelen was hired by Graham Hill’s team after the Austrian GP. He did qualify well for three of the races, certainly pleasing team boss Hill. As a result, Stommelen was retained for 1975. Still using the year old Lola, Rolf finished the first three GPs of the season, placing 7th place in South Africa. For Spain, the team’s car name was changed to Hill, and Stommelen was placed 9th in the grid. The race was very confusing, with an accident right at the start, and several lead changes. Merzario and the Fittipaldi brothers pretty much boycotted the race, retiring after a single, slow lap, on the grounds that the circuit was very dangerous. In the 17th lap of the race, Stommelen suddenly found himself in the lead, which he held for a few laps, until his car left the track, in the 25th lap, hitting the Armco barriers and killing spectators. Rolf himself was sufficiently injured to be out for most of the year, and another German ended up winning the first “half-race” of the year, Jochen Mass. Stommelen eventually came back, doing the Austrian and Italian races, but was not competitive. For 1976 Stommelen was back at Porsche, but certainly due to his Alfa Romeo contacts, got a ride in the Brabham Alfa Romeo at the Nurburgring, after practing in the hopeless RAM Brabham. Rolf did really well finishing the tragic race in 6th place, earning the last point of his Formula 1 career. He was called to race one of the Heskeths in Zandvoort, finishing 12th, and was given another crack at the Alfa engined Brabham, at the Italian GP, replacing the outgoing Reutemann. 1977 was a very successful season for Rolf, but there was no F1. He won the German Championship after a yearlong tussle with Bob Wollek, impressing enough to be hired by the Warsteiner sponsored Arrows for the 1978 season. Rolf was not competitive at Arrows, while teammate Patrese showed plenty of pace on occasion. By the latter part of the year Stommelen was not even qualifying for races, thus bringing to a close his Formula 1 career. Rolf continued to race sports cars for years, in fact meeting his death while driving one of his beloved Porsches in Riverside, in 1983.

OUTSIDE FORMULA 1

Formula 2: Brabham, March, Lotus, Surtees, Chevron

Sports cars: Porsche (904, 906, 907, 908, 910, 911, 917, 934, 935, 935 Mobydick, 936, ) Alfa-Romeo, Lotus Elite, Toyota Celica Group 5, Chevron BMW, TOJ, Rondeau, Lancia LC1

Touring cars: Ford Capri, Alfa-Romeo, BMW, Mercury(Ford NASCAR)

STUCK, HANS JOACHIN

 

1/1/1951, Grainau, near Garmish Partenkirchen (Germany)

Starts: 72

Points: 29

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

 

The 30’s seemed to be so far away when young Stuck appeared on the scene. These were the days of German drivers such as Rosemeyer, Caraciolla, Lang, Von Brauchtisch and another man with a familiar name, Hans Stuck. The latter was, of course, Hans Jr.’s father, one of the most effective drivers of Auto Union cars, who raced well into his 60’s. So there was some expectation that Stuck might revive the German flag in GP racing, when he was hired by March for the 1974 season. The first couple of races were rather normal, typical learning curves for a young debutant. By South Africa though, Stuck had qualified a wonderful seventh place and finished 5th, earning his first points. In Spain he finished 4th, so right at the start of the year he had accumulated 5 points, more than the highly rated Jody Scheckter. The rest of the season did not go as well, though. The spark that was shown in these two races seemed to be gone, and spite of three other top ten grid starts, Stuck was not closer to the front the rest of the year, in fact, dnq twice. Above all a BMW driver, Stuck was slated to drive in the USA in 1975, so he was out of F-1, However, he retained his ties to March, and ended up appearing in five races at the end of the year. Again, Stuck showed the hallmark of his GP career, inconsistency. He was extremely fast in qualifying for the German and Austrian GPs, but totally indifferent in his other outings, mostly retiring. Even so, he was called back by March for the 1976 season. Hans did really well in Brazil, finishing 4th, but his performance dropped to the indifferent level, specially after the arrival of Ronnie Peterson in the team. In Monaco, though, Stuck qualified an excellent 6th and finished 4th, proving he was indeed skilful. After other indifferent outings, Stuck found qualifying pace in several of the last races of the year, including a 4th place start in the tragic German GP, the last one held in the Nordschleife. Mostly he failed to turn these scintillating qualifying performances into results, although he managed to score an additional 2 points from 5th in Watkins Glen, a race track where he seemed to excel. So Hans was not back on the grid for 1977, although he was called by March to race one of its by then hopeless cars in South Africa. Then a big opportunity arose. Brabham seemed to be on the verge of a turn around that year, with Alfa Romeo 12 cylinder engines. Lead driver Carlos Pace had led races, and appeared to be one of the favorites for the title, until disaster struck in the form of a light airplane crash. Pace and the other plane occupants died, leaving a spot open in the Brabham team. Ecclestone decided to give Stuck a chance. Again the pattern arose: in certain tracks, such as Monaco, Stuck seemed destined for bigger things; in others, he would qualify midfield and have lackluster performances. He did score points in 2 of the first four races for Brabham, but these were 6th places and nowhere near the form shown by Pace or Watson. The pressure was on Stuck, and he realized he had to perform to save his single seater career. He did well for a stretch, scoring points in three straight races, including two podiums, but by Holland he was off the pace again. Then in Watkins Glen his big day: Stuck qualified 2nd, and come race day, it rained: Hans was a known rain meister. He shot right into the lead and had his fifteen minutes of glory in F-1, however, ended up crashing and retiring. He did not show the same pace in the last two races of the year, and ended up replaced by no other than World Champion Niki Lauda. So Stuck went out looking for work in 1978, and found a berth at Shadow. This did not seem so bad, as Shadow had finally broken into the winner’s circle in 1977, however, the team underwent major upheaval early in 78: many of the top personnel left to form Arrows, including lead designer Tony Southgate. So soon it became clear that this would not be an easy year, and indeed it was not. Stuck barely qualified midfield most of the year, and finished in the points a single time, in Brand Hatch. Again in a spurt o qualifying bravado, he started 8th in Canada, but collided with Fittipaldi, so that was the end of that. For 1979 Stuck did not have many options besides joining the German ATS team. This was obviously a ‘survival” move at best, and besides a heroic 12th place grid spot in Monaco midseason, and improving qualifying pace towards the latter part of the year, it appeared the game was up for Stuck in F-1. He did manage another good performance in Watkins Glen, scoring 2 points in his last GP. He continued a long career driving sports cars and touring cars for several manufacturers (mostly German), avoiding single seaters until a recent appearance in the GP Masters category, where he drove with distinction. Germany would need to wait a few more years for a GP hero, but boy was it worth the wait!

OUTSIDE FORMULA 1

Stuck was runner up in the European Formula 2 Championship, 1974. He won the European Touring Car Championship and the DRM in 1972. He won Le Mans twice,

OTHER CARS:

Formula 2: March-BW, Brabham Ford, Ralt

Sports Cars: BMW (3.0 CSL, 320 Grup 5, M-1, V12), Sauber-Ford, Porsche (956, 962, 911, 911 GT1), Audi, Sehcar (Ford, BMW), Kremer Porsche

Touring cars: BMW, Opel, Ford, Audi

SCHENKEN, TIM

 

9/26/1943, Sydney, Australia

Starts: 34

Points: 7

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

Judging from the press Schenken got in 1968, one would expect him to be world champion by the early 70’s. In fact, Tim had swept every one before him in F-Ford and Formula 3, winning in one year more races than most people win in a career. Things started to get tougher in F-2 though. Needless to say, F-1 was no piece of cake either. Tim got his first break driving the De Tomaso for Frank Williams, replacing Brian Redman. To his credit he managed to qualify the car all four times he appeared, a better performance than Redman’s. This was sufficiently good to attract the Brabham team, which signed Tim to replace Jack Brabham. The early part of the year was a bit tough, but in Britain Schenken qualified 7th. This was followed by three other top ten starts, plus a good helping of points from 6th in Germany and a swell 3rd place and podium in Austria. By the end of the year Schenken was back to the bottom of the timesheets, and was not retained by Brabham. In F-2 he showed a good turn of speed, and was one of the top drivers in the category. Leaving Brabham seemed right, as the team was obviously on a downward spiral, while Team Surtees, which Tim joined, seemed to be on the way up. The beginning of the year was not bad: right on his first race, Schenken scored a 5th place in Argentina, followed by eighth place on the grid in South Africa and good placings in the British non championship races. Henceforth, Schenken’s performance dropped, in spite of two very “racy” 5th grid positions in England and France. The relationship between Schenken and Surtees, known for being difficult, did not gell, and by the end of the year Tim had been shown the door, qualifying 32nd and dead last in the USA. For 1973 Schenken was already out of a regular drive in F-1, although he remained in the limelight in Formula 2 and Sports Car racing with Ferrari. He was one of several drivers to have the displeasure of driving an Iso Marlboro that season, in his case in Canada, finishing 14th. For 1974, Tim was going to back on the frame, with an ambitious project. Rondel (Ron Dennis’ F-2 team) had been planning an entry in F-1, but wisely gave up along the way, the project being picked up by no other than Ron Tauranac, the Australian that ran Brabham in 1971, before selling to Bernie Ecclestone. The new team was going to be called Trojan and in spite of the principal’s credentials, seemed to be a little short on funding by the time it appeared in Spain. The car also looked somewhat bulky, and it soon became clear that this would not be the instrument to revitalize Schenken’s F-1 career. He did manage to finish 3 times, including two tenth places, but also failed to qualify a couple of times. The project would not survive beyond Monza, so for the North American races Tim was free. As usual, Lotus planned to field a 3rd car in Watkins Glen, and Schenken was named to drive it. Another lost opportunity this was. Schenken qualified only 27th out of 30 and was the first reserve. He ended up starting anyway, but was disqualified in what amounted to be his last GP. Schenken continued racing a few more years, mostly driving assorted Porsches and Sports cars for the Georg Loos team, finding some success at this level. Eventually he founded the Tiga Racing concern with Howden Ganley , and continues to be involved in the sport to this day, in a managerial role.

• Cars driven outside of Formula 1:

Formula 2: Brabham, Surtees, Motul, Alpine, March

Formula 3: Chevron, Brabham

Sports-cars: Ferrari, Porsche (935, 934, 911 Carrera), Mirage, Ford GT40, Chevron, Matra-Simca

Touring cars: Ford Escort

Can-Am/Interseries: Porsche 917

Keke Rosberg

F-1 BIOGRAPHY BY CARLOS DE PAULA

Born 12/6/1948, Stockholm, Sweden (Finnish Nationality)

Starts:114

Points: 159.5

Wins:5

Poles:5

Fastest Laps:3

Sometimes Formula 1 feels like a soap opera. Such is the case of Keke Rosberg’s career, so full of anticlimaxes, ups and downs and sudden changes. One would consider the man finished in 1981, after a terrible season driving for Fittipaldi, and no one would expect the scoreless driver to be world champion the next year. Anticlimax or not, Rosberg was very talented, in fact his statistics don’t show half of it. They don’t show his acrobatic style and sheer speed as well. Rosberg rose to prominence driving Super Vees in Europe, eventually reaching Formula 2 in 1976, driving for Jopr Obermoser’s TOJ. He did the best he could with the novice team, and caught the attention of American Fred Opert, who ran Chevrons. In these cars, Rosberg won a few Formula 2 races, although he never challenged for the championship. This was enough for Teddy Yip to call Rosberg to drive for his budding Formula 1 team. Yip was a Macao millionaire, who had supported many drivers and teams during the course of the years, and had made the jump to Formula 1 in 1978. The ugly, Ralt designed car did not look fast. In fact, Rosberg only qualified it once in five outings. However, Keke astounded the racing world when he won the International Trophy under deluge conditions, heading Emerson Fittipaldi in the Copersucar. By Sweden Rosberg was called to drive the ATS, which was not a good car as well, but at least it qualified. He was back at Theodore for the German Grand Prix, driving the year old Wolf. His fortunes improved a bit, but the association was less than competitive all year. Rosberg was out of Formula 1 in early 1979, but then got called to replace the retiring James Hunt at Wolf. He only finished a single race, 9th in France, and did qualify 8th at Zandvoort, but the rest of the season was quite inconclusive and indifferent. The Fittipaldi team, which was beaten by Rosberg in the 1978 International trophy, decided to buy Wolf’s assets, retaining Rosberg as well. He had a superb 3rd place in his debut for the team in Argentina, after qualifying 13th, but then competitiveness slipped. There was a definite mid season slump, but in Germany Keke qualified 8th, finished 5th in Italy and qualified 6th in Canada. More tellingly, Keke proved faster than twice world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who retired deciding to concentrate on team management (Emerson proved no slouch in Formula Indy, a few year’s later, so you can guess Rosberg’s Herculean efforts in the car). Keke continued in the Brazilian team, but in spite of a few good qualifying performances early in the season, after Monaco Fittipaldi proved to be hopelessly uncompetitive, as well as underfinanced. Having failed to qualify from Germany to Canada, Keke had a single chance to score a single point in the year, at Las Vegas and failed, thus going score less. Williams was the top team of the day in 1981, and had two top line drivers, Reutemann and Jones. Jones suddenly decided to retire after the end of the 1981 (a decision he would regret later), so a place was open at Williams. Frank decided to give Rosberg a shot, and the Finn obliged by finishing 5th in his debut, in South Africa. For all intents and purposes, Reutemann would remain number 1. Then the mercurial Carlos decided to quit too! So Williams, who had two top drivers the year before, now had a bet on his hands (Rosberg) and nothing else (eventually he hired Derek Daly). However, Rosberg performed admirably in the 3 races that ensued Reutemann’s departure, finishing all three in second place. He was disqualified in Brazil, so his points were stripped, but it did look as though Ferrari was the best bet to carry the championship. Then Villeneuve died, and Pironi assumed the role of number 1 at Ferrari, suddenly accruing a large number of points midseason. Meanwhile, Rosberg had gone into a little slump, managing a 4th in Detroit and 3rd in Zandvoort during midseason. Then in Germany, disaster struck Ferrari again: Prioni who was leading the championship with some margin, had a terrible accident, and was sidelined for the rest of the year. Soon after that Rosberg had three straight podium positions, culminating with a win in the novel Swiss Grand prix, his maiden Formula 1 victory. He came to Las Vegas as favorite, and John Watson failed to do what he needed to snatch the title away, which was winning and hoping Keke did not score. From rags to riches. So for 1983 Keke was finally considered a top F-1 driver, beginning the year scoring a pole in Rio, but was disqualified again. He then won at Monaco, and was second at Detroit, but the Cosworth engined Williams was by then a liability against turbo powered competition. By mid year Rosberg was qualifying closer to midfield, and it became obvious that Williams needed the Honda turbo engine as soon as possible. Keke debuted the engine in South Africa, qualifying 6th and finishing 5th. Keke would have a turbo engine for a full season for the first time in 1984, and proved competitive from the word go. He was 2nd again in Brazil, this time getting to keep the result, and qualified well for most races, but results were poor. He did give the Honda turbo engine its first victory in the grueling Dallas G.P., but after that he retired from all races, proving the Williams Honda combination was still unreliable. 1985 was a different story. Keke qualified in the top 5 for most of the races (with three exceptions), posted three fastest laps, got a couple of poles and won two races, at Adelaide and Detroit. He ended up 3rd in the championship, and was hired by McLaren for 1986. In the new environment Rosberg underperformed, although he did get another pole and led comfortably in Germany and also in Australia, but the best he could do was 2nd in Monaco. At the end of the year he retired, although eventually he did resume his racing activities, first with the Peugeot prototype team, and then with Mercedes Benz and Opel in touring cars. He did eventually settle in managerial roles, and is currently a happy dad overseeing the exploits of son Nico at this old home, Williams.

Other cars raced:

Formula 2: TOJ, March, Chevron

Formula 5000:

Formula Super-Vee: Lola

Formula-Atlantic: Chevron

Sports-Cars: Porsche (962), Peugeot

Can-Am: Spyder, Lola

Touring cars: Mercedes-Benz, Opel

LAMMERS, JAN

F-1 BIOGRAPHY BY CARLOS DE PAULA

 

Born 6/2/1956, Zandvoort

Starts:23

Points: 0

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

Dutch drivers never quite excelled in Formula 1, but there were quite a few Dutch drivers in the Formula 3 scene around 1978, including Rothengatter, Bleekemolen and Lammers who seemed to be destined for bigger things. Of the bunch, Lammers appeared the most apt, in fact, he won the 1978 European Formula 3 championship. This gave him enough clout to be hired by Shadow in 1979, to partner Elio de Angelis in the team. Jan’s time at Shadow was unsuccessful, the car was not fast, and the best he did was 14th in qualifying and 9th in a race. There were no points, so he was lured to join ATS for 1980. He failed to qualify for the first three races of the season, then astounded the Grand prix world by qualifying fourth in Long Beach. Unfortunately, he lasted one lap in the race, and the car never again showed any pace in races or qualifying. He was lured to join Ensign after France, to replace the injured Regazzoni, but things did not improve: out of eight outings, he dnq’d 6 times. He was called back by ATS to do a few races in the early part of 1981, with a best 12th place, one retirement and two dnq’s. For 1982, Lammers was hired by Theodore, enduring more of the same: mostly dnq, one retirement and one dns, after getting injured in Detroit. After that Lammers became involved in Sports Car racing, in fact became one of the most successful sports cars drivers of the late 80’s and early 90’s, winning many races including Le Mans. No doubt feeling he had unfinished business in Formula 1, he scrapped sponsorship to race the March Ilmor in the last two races of 1992. The March team was a shadow of its former Capelli heyday, and Lammers was nowhere near competitive. Still, he finished 12th in Australia, going back to a career involving sports cars, touring cars (including driving a Volvo station wagon in the BTCC), Formula 3000, and recently a surprise choice for the GP Masters series. He also runs the A1GP Racing for Holland team.

• Cars driven out of Formula 1:

Formula 2: March

Formula 3000: Reynard, March

Formula 3: Ralt

Formula Indy: March, Eagle, Lola

Sports cars: Porsche (956, 911), Dome, Jaguar, Ford Capri Turbo, BMW M1, Toyota, Lotus Elise, Courage, Bitter, Lola, Audi, Nissan, Ferrari GT, MG Lola

Touring cars: Volvo Station Wagon, V8 Star

KOINIGG, HELMUT

 

11/3/1948, Vienna

Deceased 10/6/1974, Watkins Glen, USA

Starts:2

Points: 0

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

A few Austrian drivers have been successful in Formula 1, such as Lauda, Rindt and Berger, but for some reason, drivers from that nationality have a high share of misfortune as well. Rindt died before being crowned champion, Lauda was almost burnt alive at the Nurburgring, Ratzenberger died in Imola, Helmut Marko’s eye was damaged beyond repair in Clermont Ferrand. Helmut Koinigg was mostly known for his success in Formula Super Vee, but eventually made it to the Ford Touring car works team and the Porsche works team, driving the Turbo Carrera. He proved fast, and was entered in the Finotto Brabham for the Austrian GP of 1974, failing to qualify. However, he was hired by Surtees to race in the final two Grands Prix of the season, and did really well to qualify the unloved TS16 in 22nd place in Canada, finishing a worthy 10th. For Watkins Glen, Helmut qualified 23rd, and without any explanation, his car left the road and crashed very hard, killing the unlucky Austrian immediately, the second death at the USA track two years running.