Rare appearance

Emerson Fittipaldi partnered Dutch ace Toine Hezemans, in a rare appearance aboard an Alfa Romeo T33/3, during free practice only, of the 1000 km of Buenos Aires, in 1971. The pair did not start due to technical issues on the Alfa and Fittipaldi ended up sharing an Escuderia National Porsche 917 (picture-below) with Carlos Reutemann, but they retired on lap 43.

The 1971 Buenos Aires 1000 km was the opening round of the 1971 International Makes season. Sadly, Scuderia Ferrari driver Ignazio Giunti was killed in a terrible accident during the race.

He was leading the race when his car ran at high speed into the back of the disabled Matra driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise was pushing to the pits. Both cars were caught on fire and Giunti was unable to escape. As often the case at the time, the race was not stopped and the Gulf Porsche 917 of Jo Siffert and Derek Bell won the race.