1971 Questor Grand Prix

The Questor Grand Prix was a non-championship race for Formula One and Formula 5000 cars held on 28 March 1971 to inaugurate a new racing facility in California, the Ontario Motor Speedway, built by the Questor conglomerate.

1971 Questor Grand Prix
Non-championship race in the 1971 Formula One season
Race details
Date	March 28, 1971 (1971-03-28)
Official name	Questor Grand Prix
Location	Ontario Motor Speedway, California, United States
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.141 km (3.194 miles)
Distance	64 laps, 329.02 km (204.42 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Cosworth
Time	1:41.257
Fastest lap
Driver	Pedro Rodriguez	BRM
Time	1:42.777
Podium
First	Mario Andretti	Ferrari
Second	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Cosworth
Third	Denny Hulme	McLaren-Cosworth

Because of the smaller fuel tanks of the F5000 cars, the race was run in two heats of 32 laps, and the final result decided by a points system. Jackie Stewart qualified on pole for Heat 1 and finished runner-up behind Mario Andretti. Chris Amon set fastest lap. Andretti and Stewart again finished first and second in Heat 2 and Pedro Rodriguez set fastest lap, quicker than Amon's time in Heat 1. Andretti was declared the winner; with Stewart in second place and Denny Hulme third. Mark Donohue was the best-placed F5000 finisher in Heat 1, and Ron Grable best in Heat 2. Grable was also the best-placed F5000 driver on aggregate.

During free practice on Wednesday, Andretti had heavily crashed his Ferrari. The team chief mechanic, Giulio Borsari, managed to rebuild the car overnight by using the one of Andretti's team mate Jacky Ickx as a reference point with the aid of a local welder. After Andretti won the race, Borsari was awarded the Mechanic of the Race trophy along with a $500 prize.^[1]

Hopes for a regular fixture rapidly faded due to financial problems. The Questor Grand Prix remained a one-off event and the Ontario Motor Speedway was never again used to host a Formula One race.

Qualifying

Note: a blue background indicates a Formula 5000 entrant.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Entrant	Car	Lap	Gap
1	8	Jackie Stewart	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 001-Cosworth	1:41.257
2	10	Chris Amon	Equipe Matra Sports	Matra MS120B	1:41.275	+0.018
3	4	Jacky Ickx	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	Ferrari 312B	1:41.531	+0.256
4	6	Denis Hulme	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M19A-Cosworth	1:42.458	+0.927
5	12	Pedro Rodriguez	Yardley Team BRM	BRM P160	1:42.473	+0.015
6	19	Graham Hill	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT34-Cosworth	1:42.763	+0.290
7	26	Mark Donohue	Sunoco Penske Racing	Lola T192-Chevrolet	1:43.211	+0.448
8	14	Jo Siffert	Yardley Team BRM	BRM P160	1:43.350	+0.139
9	2	Emerson Fittipaldi	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus 72C-Cosworth	1:43.358	+0.008
10	27	George Follmer	Brian O'Neil Racing	Lotus 70B-Ford	1:43.474	+0.116
11	3	Reine Wisell	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	Lotus 72C-Cosworth	1:43.535	+0.061
12	5	Mario Andretti	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312B	1:43.542	+0.007
13	18	Henri Pescarolo	Motul/Frank Williams Racing Cars	March 711-Cosworth	1:43.709	+0.167
14	20	Tim Schenken	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT33-Cosworth	1:43.772	+0.063
15	30	Sam Posey	Champ Carr Inc	Surtees TS8-Chevrolet	1:44.128	+0.356
16	25	John Cannon	STP Corporation	March 701-Cosworth	1:44.231	+0.103
17	21	Ronnie Peterson	STP March Engineering	March 711-Cosworth	1:44.360	+0.129
18	15	Howden Ganley	Yardley Team BRM	BRM P153	1:44.379	+0.019
19	17	Derek Bell	Motul/Frank Williams Racing Cars	March 701-Cosworth	1:44.977	+0.598
20	7	Peter Gethin	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M14A-Cosworth	1:45.310	+0.333
21	37	Lou Sell	Smothers Brothers Racing Team	Lola T192-Chevrolet	1:45.397	+0.087
22	29	Ron Grable	Charlie Hayes Racing	Lola T190/T192-Chevrolet	1:45.402	+0.005
23	35	Bob Bondurant	Competition Developments	Lola T192-Chevrolet	1:45.528	+0.126
24	31	Peter Revson	Milestone Racing Team	Surtees TS8-Chevrolet	1:45.668	+0.140
25	34	Tony Adamowicz	American Racing Associates	Lola T192-Chevrolet	1:47.831	+2.163
26	33	Al Unser	Kastner Brophy Racing	Lola T192-Chevrolet	1:48.172	+0.341
27	38	Bobby Unser	Charlie Hayes Racing	Lola T190/T192	1:48.512	+0.340
28	36	Gus Hutchison	Aero Structures Developments	ASD American Mk 1-Chevrolet	1:50.954	+2.442
29	32	Swede Savage	Junior Tarozzi Racing/Keith Black Racing	Eagle Mk 5-Plymouth	1:51.509	+0.555
30	28	A. J. Foyt	Agapiou Brothers/Young American Racing	McLaren M10B-Chevrolet	1:52.229	+0.720
DNQ	45	David Hobbs1	Carl Hogan Racing	McLaren M10B-Chevrolet	1:45.331	-
DNQ	40	Pete Lovely1	Pete Lovely VW Inc	Lotus 49B-Cosworth	1:47.269	-
DNQ	47	Dow 'Jack' Byers1	Competition Developments	Lola T190-Chevrolet	1:54.468	-
DNS	28	Jackie Stewart2	Agapiou Brothers/Young American Racing	McLaren M10B-Chevrolet
DNA	9	Francois Cevert	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 002-Cosworth
DNA	11	Jean-Pierre Beltoise	Equipe Matra Sports	Matra MS120
DNA	16	John Surtees	Brooke-Bond-Oxo/Rob Walker/Team Surtees	Surtees TS9-Cosworth
DNA	22	Andrea de Adamich	STP March Engineering	March 711-Alfa Romeo
Sources:[2][3]

¹ Hobbs, Lovely and Byers were late entries and relegated to reserve drivers.
² Stewart briefly drove Foyt's car in qualifying.

Classification

Note: a blue background indicates a Formula 5000 entrant.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Grid	Heat 1	Heat 2	Final Pos.	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Ferrari	12	1; 56:03.052, 176.07 km/h	1; 55:45.358	1:51:48.410	80
2	8	Jackie Stewart	Tyrrell-Cosworth	1	2; 56:06.052	2; 55:57.658	1:52:04.324	70
3	6	Denis Hulme	McLaren-Cosworth	4	4/32 laps	5/32 laps	1:53:16.982	58
4	10	Chris Amon	Matra	2	6/32 laps	3; 55:57.939	1:53:29.684	58
5	20	Tim Schenken	Brabham-Cosworth	14	7/31 laps	6/32 laps	63 laps	50
6	14	Jo Siffert	BRM	8	3; 56:48.381	13/28 laps	60 laps	50
7	29	Ron Grable	Lola-Chevrolet	22	10/31 laps	7/32 laps	63 laps	45
8	7	Peter Gethin	McLaren-Cosworth	20	11/31 laps	8/32 laps	63 laps	43
9	15	Howden Ganley	BRM	18	8/31 laps	11/30 laps	61 laps	43
10	12	Pedro Rodriguez	BRM	5	20/21 laps	4/32 laps	53 laps	43
11	4	Jacky Ickx	Ferrari	3	5/32 laps	Ret/2 laps, puncture	34 laps	38
12	25	John Cannon	March-Cosworth	16	15/30 laps, throttle	9/31 laps	61 laps	38
13	37	Lou Sell	Lola-Chevrolet	21	14/30 laps	12/29 laps	59 laps	36
14	26	Mark Donohue	Lola-Chevrolet	7	9/31 laps	Ret/5 laps, fuel pressure	36 laps	32
15	17	Derek Bell	March-Cosworth	19	13/31 laps	Ret/15 laps, suspension	36 laps	32
16	38	Bobby Unser	Lola-Chevrolet	27	12/31 laps	Ret/9 laps, engine	40 laps	30
17	21	Ronnie Peterson	March-Cosworth	17	16/26 laps, suspension	17 laps	43 laps	30
18	36	Gus Hutchison	ASD-Chevrolet	28	19/25 laps	14/27 laps	52 laps	29
19	34	Tony Adamowicz	Lola-Chevrolet	25	Ret/12 laps	10/31 laps	45 laps	27
20	2	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Cosworth	9	17/25 laps	Ret/10 laps, gear linkage	35 laps	26
21	30	Sam Posey	Surtees-Chevrolet	15	18/25 laps, overheating	Ret/13 laps, engine	38 laps	26
22	18	Henri Pescarolo	March-Cosworth	13	Ret/16 laps, bodywork	Ret/24 laps, suspension	40 laps	25
23	3	Reine Wisell	Lotus-Cosworth	11	Ret/17 laps, ignition	DNS	17 laps	17
24	33	Al Unser	Lola-Chevrolet	26	Ret/16 laps, oil pressure	DNS	16 laps	14
25	35	Bob Bondurant	Lola-Chevrolet	23	Ret/15 laps, engine	DNS	15 laps	12
26	28	A. J. Foyt	McLaren-Chevrolet	30	Ret/6 laps, handling	Ret/2 laps, engine	8 laps	11
27	31	Peter Revson	Surtees-Chevrolet	24	Ret/11 laps, gearbox	DNS	11 laps	9
28	32	Swede Savage	Eagle-Plymouth	29	Ret/11 laps, accident	DNS	11 laps	7
29	19	Graham Hill	Brabham-Cosworth	6	Ret/8 laps, oil pipe	DNS	8 laps	5
30	27	George Follmer	Lotus-Ford	10	Ret/3 laps, rocker arm	DNS	3 laps	2
Sources:[3][4][5][6]

References

1. "F1 | Giulio Borsari: "Mechanic of the Race"". April 2014.
2. "1971 Questor GP – Heat 1 Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
3. "1971 – Questor Grand Prix". StatsF1. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
4. "1971 Questor GP – Heat 1 Classification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
5. "1971 Questor GP – Heat 2 Classification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
6. "1971 Questor GP – Aggregate Timings". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 28 February 2024.

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