Big names at the Eifelrennen

Ronnie Peterson at the wheel of his March 702-Cosworth DFA Formula 2 car, entered by Malcom Guthrie Racing, above during qualifying for the famous 1970 Eifelrennen, run over 10 laps of the great Nürburgring circuit (22.8 km) on May 3, 1970.

As usual, there are some big names at the start of this non-championship Formula 2 race, with among the 41 (!) entrants: Jochen Rindt (Lotus), Derek Bell (Brabham), Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus), Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille on Pygmées, Clay Regazzoni and François Cevert in their works Tecnos… and many other prestigious names.

Jochen Rindt (photo below) will win this race in his Lotus 69-Cosworth FVA entered by Jochen Rindt Racing with a 20-second lead over Derek Bell and his Brabham BT30-Cosworth from Wheatcroft Racing and Rolf Stommelen in a Brabham BT30-Cosworth entered by Eifelland Wohnwagenbau.

Nothing seemed to stand in Jochen Rindt’s way during the 1970 season, as the Austrian also dominated the 1970 F1 World Drivers’ Championship at the wheel of the Lotus’ 49 and 72, with victories at Monaco, Brands Hatch, Charade, Zandvoort, Hockenheim… then came the Monza tragedy…