1978 German motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1978 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 20 August 1978 at the Nürburgring circuit.

  1978 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 13 races in the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	20 August 1978
Official name	Grosser Preis von Deutschland[1][2][3]
Location	Nürburgring
Course	Permanent racing facility 22.835 km (14.189 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Johnny Cecotto Time 8:31.700 Fastest lap Rider Virginio Ferrari Time 8:29.500 Podium First Virginio Ferrari Second Johnny Cecotto Third Kenny Roberts
350 cc
Pole position Rider Gregg Hansford Time 8:44.700 Fastest lap Rider Takazumi Katayama Time 8:39.700 Podium First Takazumi Katayama Second Kork Ballington Third Michel Rougerie
250 cc
Pole position Rider Gregg Hansford Time 8:53.300 Fastest lap Rider Kork Ballington Time 8:49.500 Podium First Kork Ballington Second Gregg Hansford Third Tom Herron
125 cc
Pole position Rider Thierry Espié Time 9:23.800 Fastest lap Rider Ángel Nieto Time 9:17.000 Podium First Ángel Nieto Second Thierry Espié Third Hans Müller
50 cc
Pole position Rider Ricardo Tormo Time 10:24.000 Fastest lap Rider Ricardo Tormo Time 10:15.800 Podium First Ricardo Tormo Second Ángel Nieto Third Eugenio Lazzarini
Sidecar (B2A)
Pole position Rider Rolf Biland Time 9:15.800 Fastest lap Rider Alain Michel Time 9:06.800 Podium First Werner Schwärzel Second Alain Michel Third Dick Greasley

500cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	12	Virginio Ferrari	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	51'21.700	15
2	4	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+0.700	12
3	3	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+33.900	10
4	7	Barry Sheene	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	+36.000	8
5	17	Takazumi Katayama	Sarome & Motul Team	Yamaha	+36.300	6
6	13	Michel Rougerie		Suzuki	+56.000	5
7	2	Steve Baker	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	+57.500	4
8	29	Boet van Dulmen		Suzuki	+1'08.100	3
9	9	Tepi Länsivuori		Suzuki	+1'10.000	2
10	59	Jürgen Steiner	Caramba Racing Team Bohme	Suzuki	+2'10.400	1
11	26	Jack Middelburg		Suzuki	+2'11.200
12	1	Franco Bonera		Suzuki	+2'15.800
13	5	Steve Parrish		Suzuki	+2'16.100
14	15	Max Wiener		Suzuki	+2'25.700
15	63	Alex George		Suzuki	+3'40.700
16	28	Gerhard Vogt	Bill Smith Racing	Suzuki	+3'44.100
17	??	Hans-Otto Butenuth		Yamaha	+5'04.900
18	??	Jack Findlay		Suzuki	+5'18.400
19	37	Dick Alblas		Suzuki	+5'19.700
20	??	Tako Hase		Yamaha	+5'42.900
21	??	Franz Shermer		Suzuki	+5'58.500
22	??	Carlos Delgado de San Antonio		Suzuki	+6'00.100
23	??	René Gutknecht		Suzuki	+6'00.300
24	??	Michael Schmid		Suzuki	+6'28.700
25	??	Philippe Coulon	Marlboro Nava Total	Suzuki	+6'56.400
26	??	Hans-Günter Schöne		Yamaha	+8'58.600
27	??	Lars Johansson		Yamaha	+8'59.800
28	??	Walter Kaletsch		Yamaha	+9'50.900
29	??	Gustav Canehl		Yamaha	+1 lap
Ret	??	Marco Lucchinelli	Cagiva Corse	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Bruno Kneubühler	RSS Racing Team	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Franz Rau	Kazenmaier Autovermietung	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Herbert Schieferecke		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Iingo Riemer		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Wil Hartog	Riemersma Racing	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Jan Verwey		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Jean-Claude Hogrel	Buton	Buton	Retired
Ret	??	Graziano Rossi	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Hans Braumandl		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	38	Peter Sjoström		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Michel Frutschi		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Børge Nielsen		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Leslie van Breda		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	22	Gianni Rolando	Team Librenti	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Gustav Reiner		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Horst Scherer		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Horst Scherer		Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Horst Lahfeld		König	Retired
DNS	??	Bernd Dawicki		König	Did not start
Sources: [4][5][6]

350 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	1	Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha	6	52:27.4	6	15
2	5	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	6	+0.2	2	12
3	4	Michel Rougerie	Yamaha	6	+40.8	7	10
4	3	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha	6	+42.1	8	8
5	2	Tom Herron	Yamaha	6	+43.4	4	6
6	63	Anton Mang	Kawasaki	6	+1:09.9	5	5
7	6	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	6	+1:37.0		4
8	23	Franco Bonera	Yamaha	6	+1:38.1		3
9	10	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	6	+2:04.3		2
10	53	Hervé Moineau	Yamaha	6	+2:10.2		1
11	82	Gustav Rainer	Yamaha	6	+2:29.7
12	18	Reino Eskelinen	Yamaha	6	+2:41.6
13	66	Josef Hage	Yamaha	6	+3:07.8
14	22	Maurizio Massimiani	Yamaha	6	+3:38.8
15	24	Vanes Francini	Yamaha	6	+3:56.1
		Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki			1
		Christian Sarron	Yamaha			3
		Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha			9
		Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha			10
60 starters in total, 25 finishers
[4]

250 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	6	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	5	44:41.4	2	15
2	54	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki	5	+39.9	1	12
3	5	Tom Herron	Yamaha	5	+52.5	9	10
4	50	Jean-François Baldé	Kawasaki	5	+52.7	3	8
5	59	Anton Mang	Kawasaki	5	+52.8		6
6	8	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha	5	+1:07.7	7	5
7	37	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	5	+1:22.4		4
8	64	Raymond Roche	Yamaha	5	+1:23.6	6	3
9	10	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	5	+1:24.1	10	2
10	51	Thierry Espié	Yamaha	5	+1:24.3		1
11	12	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	5	+1:27.9
12	3	Walter Villa	Minarelli	5	+1:44.0
13	33	Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha	5	+1:48.6
14	13	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	5	+1:48.9	4
15	28	Richard Hubin	Yamaha	5	+1:49.5
		Kenny Roberts	Yamaha			5
		Christian Estrosi	Yamaha			8
50 starters in total, 36 finishers
[4]

125 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	3	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli	4	37:26.0	2	15
2	1	Thierry Espié	Motobécane	4	+7.8	1	12
3	9	Hans Müller	Morbidelli	4	+1:07.5	3	10
4	12	Maurizio Massimiani	Morbidelli	4	+1:18.9	9	8
5	7	Harald Bartol	Morbidelli	4	+1:19.0	10	6
6	6	Gert Bender	Bender	4	+1:22.5	4	5
7	8	Stefan Dörflinger	Morbidelli	4	+1:22.8	6	4
8	2	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA	4	+1:23.8	5	3
9	19	Walter Koschine	Bender	4	+1:24.0	7	2
10	56	Stefan Janssen	Morbidelli	4	+1:26.9	8	1
11	32	Henk van Kessel	Condor	4	+2:10.1
12	16	Matti Kinnunen	Morbidelli	4	+2:10.4
13	20	Rolf Blatter	Morbidelli	4	+2:10.9
14	31	Bennie Wilbers	Morbidelli	4	+2:11.3
15	35	Richard Schmiederer	Morbidelli	4	+2:43.4
43 starters in total, 30 finishers
[4]

50 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	3	Ricardo Tormo	Bultaco	3	31:00.3	1	15
2	1	Ángel Nieto	Bultaco	3	+14.1	2	12
3	2	Eugenio Lazzarini	Kreidler	3	+53.0	3	10
4	6	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler	3	+1:30.2	4	8
5	37	Rolf Blatter	Kreidler	3	+1:58.7	8	6
6	39	Wolfgang Müller	Kreidler	3	+2:00.3	5	5
7	13	Theo Timmer	Kreidler	3	+2:05.3	10	4
8	60	Ingo Emmerich	Kreidler	3	+2:06.2	9	3
9	45	Reiner Scheidhauer	Kreidler	3	+2:07.2	7	2
10	28	Henk van Kessel	Sparta	3	+2:26.3		1
11	63	Claudio Lusuardi	MBH	3	+2:28.7
12	21	Enrico Cereda	Kreidler	3	+2:30.8
13	12	Hagen Klein	Kreidler	3	+2:48.4
14	31	Pierre Dumont	Kreidler	3	+2:48.6
15	57	Richard Schmiederer	Kreidler	3	+2:51.1
		Peter Looyestein	Kreidler			6
48 starters in total, 34 finishers
[4]

Sidecar classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	3	Werner Schwärzel	Andreas Huber	Fath	5	46:37.6	3	15
2	5	Alain Michel	Stu Collins	Seymaz-Yamaha	5	+1:26.2	2	12
3	8	Dick Greasley	Gordon Russell	Busch-Yamaha	5	+1:26.8	5	10
4	10	Bruno Holzer	Karl Meierhans	LCR-Yamaha	5	+1:26.9		8
5	14	Jean-François Monnin	Paul Gerard	Seymaz-Yamaha	5	+2:20.3	6	6
6	37	Hermann Huber	Bernd Schappacher	König	5	+2:53.7	9	5
7	17	Amedeo Zini	Andrea Fornaro	Busch-König	5	+3:33.3		4
8	29	Bill Hodgkins	John Parkins	Windle-Yamaha	5	+3:36.0		3
9	47	Otto Haller	Rainer Gundel	MKM-Yamaha	5	+3:59.1		2
10	24	Thomas Müller	K. Waltisperg	TTM-Yamaha	5	+4:13.4	10	1
		Rolf Biland	Kenny Williams	Beo-Yamaha			1
		Jock Taylor	James Neil	Windle-Yamaha			4
		Hermann Schmid	Kenny Arthur	Schmid-Yamaha			7
		Siegfried Schauzu	Lorenzo Puzo	Busch-Yamaha			8
39 starters in total, 25 finishers
[4]

References

1. "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1978". Archive.fo. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
2. "1978 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
3. "Nürburgring - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
4. Coleman, Barry (ed.). Motocourse 1978-1979. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-905138-06-6.
5. "1978 German MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
6. "WEST GERMANY GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1978". Motogp.com. Retrieved 10 December 2018.