The Martha Grand National & Austrian Group 2 Racing
The "Martha Grand National" was an initiative by the Osterreichring owners to create versatile races with a variety of vehicle categories to appeal to wider audiences. The 1970 race - held on October 25th - was a noteworthy effort, with Group 1, Group 2 and GT cars racing together in a 10-lap event. (Niki Lauda won his class in the Porsche 908/2). There doesn't appear to have been a race in 1971, and in 1972 it was a Group 2 event according to the late Frank de Jong. No Martha Grand National race is listed for 1973, but on October 14 that year (around the time when the MGN had been run) the Osterreichring staged the "Zeltweg Saisonfinale" of the OSK Staatsmeisterschaft for Tourenwagen-Rennsport, which included a Group 1 race won by the BMW of Karl Pankl, and the "Ford Capri Vergleich" won by Lauda. Was this race the MGN by another name? In 1974 +1975 the MGN was a 12 hour race for Group 1 + 2 cars and wasn't part of the OSK Championship in either year.
I am particularly interested in the 1970 and 1973 races; although these are referred to in the statistics sections of Lauda's autobiographies, other than a brief mention of the top placings on Frank's superb Touring Car Racing website, I have never been able to find any contemporary reports. Can anyone cast further light on these or give greater details of what happened?
|