The 1976 World Sports Car Championship (officially the World Championship for Sports Cars,[1]) was a motor racing series open to Group 6 cars,[2] (officially Two-Seater Racing Cars (Group 6)).[3] The championship was contested over a seven race series which ran from 4 April to 19 September and included a secondary award, the 1976 FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres.[4] 1976 was the 24th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing.
The championship was won by Porsche[1] and the FIA Cup by Lola.[4]
| Rnd | Race | Circuit | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  ADAC Nürburgring 300 km | Nürburgring | April 4 | |
| 2 |  Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo (4 Hours) | Autodromo Nazionale Monza | April 25 | |
| 3 | Trofeo Ignazio Giunti (500 km) | Autodromo Dino Ferrari | May 23 | |
| 4 | Coppa Florio (4 Hours) | Autodromo di Pergusa | June 27 | |
| 5 |  Player's 200 | Mosport | August 22 | |
| 6 |  ACF 500 km of Dijon | Dijon-Prenois | September 5 | |
| 7 |  Elan Trophy (200 miles) | Salzburgring | September 19 |
| Rnd | Circuit | Winning Team | 2-Litre Winning Team | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Drivers | 2-Litre Winning drivers | |||
| Winning Car | 2-Litre Winning Car | |||
| 1 | Nürburgring | #5 Joest Racing | #40 Helmut Bross | Results |
| Reinhold Joest | Helmut Bross | |||
| Porsche 908/3 |  Lola T294-BMW | |||
| 2 | Monza | #3 Martini Racing |
| Results |
Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx | "Amphicar" Armando Floridia | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW | |||
| 3 | Imola | #7 Martini Racing |
| Results |
| Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx | Roby Filannino Ermanno Pettiti | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW | |||
| 4 | Pergusa | #4 Martini Racing | #35 Roby Filannino | Results |
| Jochen Mass Rolf Stommelen | Roby Filannino Ermanno Pettiti | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW | |||
| 5 | Mosport | #20 Martini Racing |
| Results† |
| Jacky Ickx |  Tony Cicale | |||
| Porsche 936 | Chevron B26-Hart | |||
| 6 | Dijon | #6 Martini Racing |
| Results |
| Jochen Mass Jacky Ickx | Jean-Louis Lafosse Jean-Pierre Jaussaud | |||
| Porsche 936 | Chevron B36-ROC | |||
| 7 | Salzburgring | #3 Martini Racing | Results | |
| Jochen Mass | Dieter Quester | |||
| Porsche 936 | Osella PA4-BMW |
Points were awarded to the top ten finishers in each race in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car in each race with no points awarded for any additional placing gained.
Only the best 5 points finishes per manufacturer could be retained towards the championship, with any other points earned not included in the totals. Discarded points are shown within brackets in the table below.
| Pos | Manufacturer | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Rd 7 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porsche | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | (20) | (20) | 100 |
| 2= | Alpine | 15 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 47 | |||
| 2= | Osella | 10 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 47 | |||
| 4 | Lola | 15 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 40 | ||
| 5 | March | 10 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 30 | ||
| 6 | Chevron | 1 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 23 | ||
| 7 | Alfa Romeo | 15 | 15 | ||||||
| 8 | Mirage | 12 | 12 | ||||||
| 9= | KMW [5] | 4 | 4 | 8 | |||||
| 9= | McLaren | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 9= |  Sauber | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 12 | Abarth | 6 | 6 | ||||||
| 13 | Cheetah | 2 | 2 | ||||||
The following cars contributed to the nett championship pointscores of their respective manufacturers:[8]
The 1976 FIA Cup for Cars up to 2 Litres was contested concurrently with the 1976 World Championship for Sports Cars.[4]
| Position | Manufacturer | Nur | Mon | Imo | Ena | Mos | Dij | Sal | Total | |
| 1 | Lola | 20 | 10 | 12 | - | 15 | 20 | - | 77 | |
| 2 | Osella | - | 20 | 20 | 20 | - | 6 | - | 66 | |
| 3 | Chevron | - | - | 6 | 8 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 61 | |
| 4 | March | 15 | 8 | 8 | 15 | - | - | - | 46 | |
| 5 | Sauber | - | - | - | - | - | - | 20 | 20 | |
| 6 | Abarth | - | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | 15 | |
| 7 | Ford | 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 |
See main article: 1976 World Championship for Makes season. For the 1976 season, the FIA chose to run two separate World Championships for "sportscars". Open-cockpit Group 6 cars would contest the new World Championship for Sports Cars, while production-based cars, including Group 5 Special Production Cars, would now contest the World Championship for Makes. The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was open to both types of cars, did not count towards either championship. The World Championship for Makes was won by Porsche.