Thirty years ago, on April 8, 1979, Canadian Gilles Villeneuve won in spectacular fashion the Grand Prix of the United States West at Long Beach.
Villeneuve, driving a Ferrari 312T4 powered by the infamous flat-12 engine, captured pole position from Carlos Reutemann (Lotus-Ford) and jumped into the lead the moment the green light flashed.
He was never challenged during the 80 laps of the race and he crossed the line in first place, beating his teammate Jody Scheckter, Alan Jones (Williams-Ford), Mario Andretti (Lotus-Ford), Patrick Depailler (Ligier-Ford) and Jean-Pierre Jarier (Tyrrell-Ford).
Villeneuve also set the fastest lap of the race that day. What an exciting race that was!
photo:WRI2
Villeneuve, driving a Ferrari 312T4 powered by the infamous flat-12 engine, captured pole position from Carlos Reutemann (Lotus-Ford) and jumped into the lead the moment the green light flashed.
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He was never challenged during the 80 laps of the race and he crossed the line in first place, beating his teammate Jody Scheckter, Alan Jones (Williams-Ford), Mario Andretti (Lotus-Ford), Patrick Depailler (Ligier-Ford) and Jean-Pierre Jarier (Tyrrell-Ford).
Villeneuve also set the fastest lap of the race that day. What an exciting race that was!
photo:WRI2