Limited fuel allowances saw to a bizarre 1985 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola when Ferrari driver Stefan Johansson drove from 15th to lead the race before running out of fuel, before first man home Alain Prost’s McLaren MP4/2B TAG-Porsche also ran dry on the slow-down lap, was later found to be underweight and excluded.
That handed the win to Elio de Angelis, whose Lotus 97T Renault was initially disqualified for the same reason but later reinstated ahead of Thierry Boutsen’s Arrows BMW and Patrick Tambay’s Renault!
With no undue fuel restrictions, Damon Hill drove his Williams Renault to a dominant win in the 1996 San Marino Grand Prix from Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari and Gerhard Berger’s Benetton Renault, which ended third from seventh on the grid.
Going back to 1910, Ray Harroun took the Speedway Trophy on the Atlanta boards, while Albert Divo’s Bugatti Type 35 B won the 1929 Targa Florio, Achille Varzi’s Auto Union Type B the 1935 Tunis Grand Prix at Carthage Circuit in France and Jean-Pierre Wimille’s Bugatti won the ’37 Coupes de Paris.
Post WWII, Reg Parnell drove his Ferrari 375 to win a 1951 Silverstone International Trophy shortened by a violent thunderstorm, while Alberto Ascari won the ’53 Bordeaux Grand Prix in a Ferrari 500 and Stirling Moss won the ’56 International Trophy for Vanwall at an average speed of 100.5 mph. Basil van Rooyen won the 1968 Bulawayo 100 in Rhodesia in his Brabham Repco, Sebastien Bourdais lifted the 2003 London Champ Car Trophy and James Hinchcliffe won the 2013 Sao Paulo Indy 300.
In sportscar racing, Hershel McGriff won the first 3000km 5-day Mexican Carrera Panamericana road race run mostly between 1500 and 2400m altitudes in an Oldsmobile still fitted with white wall tyres in 1950. Sticking with road racing, Porsche won two Targa Florios with Carlo Abate and Jo Bonnier in a 718 GTR in 1963 and Vic Elford and Umberto Maglioli driving a 907 today in 1968
Jacky Ickx and Jean-Pierre Jarier’s Matra-Simca MS670C won the 1974 Spa 1000, Al Holbert’s Porsche 962 the ‘85 Laguna Seca IMSA sprint, Eddie Cheever and Derek Warwick’s Jaguar XJR the ‘86 Silverstone 1000 and Martin Brundle and Derek Warwick’s Jaguar XJR-14 the ’91 Monza 6-hour. Back at Spa, Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Marc Gene drove their Audi R18 ultra to 2012 1000km honours.
There were two world championship rallies in Corsica on this day, where Markku Alen won in a Lancia Rally 037 in 1984 and Didier Auriol’s Toyota Celica GT-Four won in 1995, while in notable racing anniversariess, sportscar star Klaus Ludwig was born on 5 May.
