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The elegance of Jacky Ickx

14. Apr 2019 
by Ziv Knoll
5974 views

Watkins Glen, US Grand Prix 1970.

After the tragic death of points leader Jochen Rindt, only Jacky Ickx had a chance to beat him in the championship.

The Belgian champion needed to win the last three Grand Prix of the season in order to be crowned World Champion.

He duly won the first one on the fast Mont-Tremblant circuit in Canada, bringing his Ferrari 312b home in front of his team-mate Regazzoni.

Here in the US, he took pole by quite a margin over the Tyrrell of Jackie Stewart.

In the race, he was leading when he had to pit to repair a broken fuel line, and finished 4th after setting the fastest lap of the race.

The race went to Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus 72) who achieved his first GP victory in only his 4th Grand Prix.

This result meant that Jochen Rindt became the first and only posthumous Formula One World Champion.

Ickx, very elegant in defeat, declared : “It’s better like this, am happy with the outcome, Rindt deserves the title, i wouldn’t have liked to beat him this way”.

Some have even pretended, that the Ferrari mechanics did not find anything broken on the car, and that Ickx always a gentleman, make sure not to win the race.

Two weeks later, Jacky Ickx won the Mexican Grand Prix, finishing runner up to Rindt in the championship.

Source: JAG

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2 Comments

  1. Hello Ziv, I happened upon your website and was pleased to see that my father’s photos of Jacky Ickx at the 1970 USGP had been posted. I’ll be posting more as he has a vast archive spanning from 1948 to 2003. All photos are copyright JAG. Thanks!

    2
    1. Hello John, so nice you joined my little community.
      I saw your father’s pics and they were very inspiring, being so human, so authentic.
      I will be very happy to see your collection, and could gradually post these, and tell the story behind.

      1
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