The 1985 1000 km Spa was the seventh round of the 1985 World Endurance Championship. It took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on September 1, 1985. In the first half of the race the two leading drivers collided, which resulted in the death of defending Drivers Champion Stefan Bellof. The race organisers ended the competition early, and allowing the Martini Racing Lancia of drivers Mauro Baldi, Bob Wollek, and Riccardo Patrese to win their only victory of the year. It was also the last victory scored by the Lancia LC2.
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The 1000 km of Spa was held only three weeks after Manfred Winkelhock was killed in an accident at the series' previous round, the 1000 km of Mosport. Halfway through the race, defending Drivers Champion Stefan Bellof in the Brun Motorsport Porsche 956 was battling for the race lead with 1982 and 1983 Drivers Champion Jacky Ickx in the Rothmans Porsche 962C. Ickx led Bellof out of the La Source hairpin and down the front stretch into the Eau Rogue corner, starting the 78th lap of the race. Both drivers had only just been handed their cars from their teammates during a pit stop five laps earlier.[1]
Entering the left kink at the bottom of the hill, Bellof moved to the left of Ickx in an attempt to set up a pass for the immediate right-hander up the hill. Bellof's right front came into contact with Ickx's left rear, and both drivers spun up to the left up the hill, impacting the barriers. Ickx's car hit the wall on the right rear side, while Bellof went straight into the barriers, breaking through and hitting a secondary wall.[1][2] Bellof's Porsche caught fire moments after the wreck.[3] Ickx, able to climb from his car, attempted to aid safety workers in helping Bellof. During the caution period, members of the Brun team also arrived to aid in the rescue.
Although the fire was extinguished and the driver extracted from the wreckage within forty minutes, Stefan Bellof was pronounced dead only ten minutes later after he had reached the track hospital,[3] although it was believed that he had actually died on impact.[2] Out of respect for Bellof, the race organisers chose to end the event earlier than planned. The entire incident was recorded on an in-car camera that Ickx's 962C was carrying. Even after the accident, the camera continued to work, and was pointed in the direction of Bellof's wreckage.[3]
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).
Pos | Class | No | Team | Drivers | Chassis | Tyre | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Engine | |||||||
1 | C1 | 5 | Martini Racing | Mauro Baldi Bob Wollek Riccardo Patrese |
Lancia LC2 | M | 122 |
Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8 | |||||||
2 | C1 | 2 | Rothmans Porsche | Hans-Joachim Stuck Derek Bell |
Porsche 956 | D | 122 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
3 | C1 | 7 | Joest Racing | Klaus Ludwig Paolo Barilla |
Porsche 956B | D | 121 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
4 | C1 | 4 | Martini Racing | Riccardo Patrese Alessandro Nannini |
Lancia LC2 | M | 121 |
Ferrari 308C 3.0 L Turbo V8 | |||||||
5 | C1 | 51 | TWR Jaguar | Martin Brundle Mike Thackwell |
Jaguar XJR-6 | D | 120 |
Jaguar 6.0 L V12 | |||||||
6 | C1 | 8 | Joest Racing | Volker Weidler "John Winter" Marc Duez |
Porsche 956 | D | 120 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
7 | C1 | 34 | Cosmik Racing | Christian Danner Costas Los |
March 84G | Y | 114 |
Porsche Type-956 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
8 | C1 | 26 | Obermaier Racing Team | Jürgen Lässig Jésus Pareja Hervé Regout |
Porsche 956 | G | 113 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
9 | C2 | 70 | Spice Engineering | Gordon Spice Ray Bellm |
Spice-Tiga GC85 | A | 112 |
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8 | |||||||
10 | C1 | 23 | Cheetah Automobiles Switzerland | Bernard de Dryver Pierre Dieudonné Claude Bourgoignie |
Cheetah G604 | D | 110 |
Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3 L V8 | |||||||
11 | C1 | 10 | Porsche Kremer Racing | Kees Kroesemeijer Marc Surer |
Porsche 956 | G | 108 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
12 | C2 | 74 | Gebhardt Motorsport | Stanley Dickens Frank Jelinski John Graham |
Gebhardt JC853 | A | 108 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8 | |||||||
13 | C2 | 90 | Jens Winther Denmark | Jens Winther David Mercer |
URD C83 | A | 108 |
BMW M88 3.5 L I6 | |||||||
14 | C2 | 79 | Ecurie Ecosse | Mike Wilds David Leslie |
Ecosse C285 | A | 99 |
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 L V8 | |||||||
15 | C2 | 82 | Grifo Autoracing | Pasquale Barberio Maurizio Gellini |
Alba AR3 | D | 98 |
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8 | |||||||
16 | C2 | 88 | Ark Racing | David Andrews Max Payne Chris Ashmore |
Ceekar 83J | A | 94 |
Ford Cosworth BDX 2.0 L I4 | |||||||
17 | C2 | 95 | Roland Bassaler | Roland Bassaler Dominique Lacaud Gérard Tremblay |
Sauber SHS C6 | A | 94 |
BMW M88 3.5 L I6 | |||||||
18 | C2 | 105 | Jens Nakjaer | Jens Nakjaer Holger Knudsen |
Nakjaer | A | 91 |
BMW 3.2 L I6 | |||||||
19 | C2 | 98 | Roy Baker Promotions | Paul Smith Mike Kimpton |
Tiga GC285 | A | 88 |
Ford Cosworth BDT 1.8 L Turbo I4 | |||||||
20 | GTX | 160 | Victor Racing Team | "Victor" Toni Palma Luigi Taverna |
Porsche 935 | ? | 87 |
Porsche Type-930 3.1 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
21 | C1 | 13 | Primagaz Team Cougar | Henri Pescarolo Yves Courage |
Cougar C12S | M | 87 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Flat-6 | |||||||
22 NC |
B | 158 | Dieter Oster | Jürgen Hammelmann Jean-Paul Libert Marco Micangeli |
BMW M1 | D | 71 |
BMW M88 3.5 L I6 | |||||||
23 NC |
C2 | 93 | Automobiles Louis Descartes | Louis Descartes Jacques Heuclin |
ALD 01 | A | 63 |
BMW M88 3.5 L I6 | |||||||
24 DNF |
C2 | 80 | Carma F.F. | Carlo Facetti Martino Finotto Almo Coppelli |
Alba AR6 | A | 95 |
Carma FF 1.9 L Turbo I4 | |||||||
25 DNF |
C1 | 1 | Rothmans Porsche | Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx |
Porsche 962C | D | 77 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
26 DNF |
C1 | 19 | Brun Motorsport | Stefan Bellof Thierry Boutsen |
Porsche 956B | D | 77 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
27 DNF |
C1 | 18 | Brun Motorsport | Oscar Larrauri Massimo Sigala |
Porsche 956 | D | 70 |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
28 DNF |
C2 | 99 | Roy Baker Promotions | Jeremy Rossiter Thorkild Thyrring |
Tiga GC284 | A | 53 |
Ford Cosworth BDT 1.8 L Turbo I4 | |||||||
29 DNF |
C2 | 97 | Strandell Motors | Anders Olofsson Tryggve Gronvall |
Strandell 85 | A | 38 |
Porsche Type-934 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
30 DNF |
C2 | 100 | John Barlett Racing | Richard Jones Kenneth Leim Max Cohen-Olivar |
Chevron B62 | A | 33 |
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3 L V8 | |||||||
31 DNF |
C1 | 66 | EMKA Productions Ltd. | Tiff Needell Steve O'Rourke James Weaver |
EMKA C83 | D | 19 |
Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3 L V8 | |||||||
32 DNF |
C1 | 52 | TWR Jaguar | Hans Heyer Jean-Louis Schlesser |
Jaguar XJR-6 | D | 14 |
Jaguar 6.0 L V12 | |||||||
33 DNF |
C2 | 107 | Jean-Claude Ferrarin | Jean-Claude Ferrarin Lucien Rossiaud |
Isolia 001 | A | 1 |
BMW M12 2.0 L I4 | |||||||
DNS | C1 | 14 | Richard Lloyd Racing | Jonathan Palmer David Hobbs |
Porsche 956 GTi | G | - |
Porsche Type-935 2.6 L Turbo Flat-6 | |||||||
DNQ | B | 156 | Raymond Touroul | Raymond Touroul Thierry Perrier Philippe Dermagne |
Porsche 911SC | P | - |
Porsche 3.0 L Flat-6 |
World Sportscar Championship | ||
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Previous race: 1985 1000 km of Mosport |
1985 season | Next race: 1985 1000 km of Brands Hatch |