When Boutsen beat Ickx…
Belgian Thierry Boutsen (26), picture above, a young F1 hopeful and already an ace in endurance racing, is about to take the wheel of his Joest Porsche 956 from his French team mate Bob Wollek, and score a sensational win, beating the works cars and his compatriot Jacky Ickx, at Monza in 1983.
The Monza 1000 km was round 1 of the 1983 FIA World Endurance Championship. Clear favourites were the works Rothmans Porsche 956’s driven by Ickx-Mass and Bell-Holbert, but the Italian fans were all cheering for the Martini Racing-entered Lancia LC2/83 driven by the popular Alboreto and Patrese.
Nevertheless, Boutsen and Wollek drove a flawless race in their well-prepared Joest Porsche 956 and took the checkered flag with more than a minute advantage over the first works Porsche. Ickx was so bitter to finish second behind his young compatriot, that he was nowhere to be seen during the podium ceremony… (picture-below).