1981 World Endurance Championship


The 1981 World Sportscar Championship season was the 29th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1981 FIA World Endurance Championship which was contested over a fifteen race series which ran from 31 January to 27 September. The former World Challenge for Endurance Drivers was renamed to the World Endurance Championship of Drivers for 1981 and the World Championship of Makes was renamed to the World Endurance Championship of Makes. Bob Garretson won the World Endurance Championship of Drivers and Lancia was awarded the World Endurance Championship of Makes.
This season had the special distinction of displaying one of the most complexes points scoring system ever devised by a FIA sanctioned championship.

Schedule

World Endurance Championship of Drivers was contested over all fifteen races however only six of the races counted towards the World Endurance Championship of Makes.
Drivers Rd.Makes Rd.RaceCircuitDate
11

Season results

Although various classes of cars contested the championship races, only the overall race winners are listed in the table below.
RndCircuitOverall Winning TeamResults
RndCircuitOverall Winning DriversResults
RndCircuitOverall Winning CarResults
1Daytona'''

World Endurance Championship of Drivers

The World Endurance Championship of Drivers was open to FIA Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4, Group 5, Group 6, Group C and GTP cars and to IMSA GTX, IMSA GTP, IMSA AAGT, IMSA GTO, IMSA GTU and IMSA RS cars.
Drivers Championship points were awarded on a 20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis to the first twenty overall finishers at each round.
Bonus points were also awarded as follows:
Only half points were awarded at the shortened Nürburgring round. All points scored were retained towards the championship totals.

Results

A total of 371 drivers scored points in the 1981 World Endurance Championship of Drivers.

World Endurance Championship of Makes

The World Endurance Championship of Makes was open FIA Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4 and Group 5 cars and to IMSA GTX cars.
Cars from all eligible groups were combined, and then divided into two Divisions based on engine capacity.
Points were awarded on a 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the top ten places in each Division at each race.
Only the best placed car of each make in each division at each race was eligible to score points.
Cars from groups not included in the championship were disregarded when assessing divisional positions for championship purposes.
Only half points were awarded for the shortened Nurburgring race.
The best five round results could be retained by each make.

Results

The overall World Endurance Championship of Makes title was won by Lancia. Although both Lancia and Porsche scored 100 points from their best five class results, Lancia was awarded the title based on its six divisional victories against the five scored by Porsche.