Bonhams is providing Mario Andretti’s Method 1 world championship-winning 1978 John Participant Particular Lotus-Cosworth Kind 79 at its November public sale. Andretti drove chassis 79/4 to victory on the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and, within the ensuing race, he clinched the 1978 Method 1 Drivers’ championship with a win on the Italian Grand Prix. Lotus launched the Kind 79 in 1978 and, in twenty begins over 11 Grand Prix races that season, teammates Andretti and Ronnie “SuperSwede” Peterson earned six victories, 5 podium finishes, 10 pole place begins, and the duo completed first and second in 4 races. Bonhams expects chassis 79/4 to fetch between $6.5 million and $9.5 million at its inaugural sale on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this coming November.

The L79 was designed by Lotus engineer and designer Martin Ogilvie with enter from Lotus-founder and workforce boss Colin Chapman and aerodynamicist Peter Wright. Its superior floor results design was extra superior than the remainder of the paddock and led to higher grip and dealing with at excessive speeds. Often called “Black Magnificence,” the L79 was Lotus’ closing constructors’ title-winning racecar developed underneath the route of Colin Chapman.

“This Lotus 79 encapsulates the very essence of what the sequence represents – innovation, advance, exploring the boundaries of know-how and the insatiable starvation to win,” says Maarten ten Holder, Managing Director, Bonhams Collector Vehicles.

Mario Andretti could make a powerful declare to being the best American racing driver in motorsports historical past. He’s solely driver in historical past to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Method 1 Drivers’ World Championship. To this point he’s solely the second American to win a Method 1 Drivers’ championship (Phil Hill gained the title in 1961 for Ferrari).

“This automotive, 79/4 or JPS22 because the sponsors most well-liked ticks each conceivable field,” says Mark Osborne, International Director of Motorsport, Bonhams Collector Vehicles. “From its ‘Famous person’ driver and crown-clinching Grand Prix success to its JPS livery and pivotal trend-setting innovation, Mario’s Championship winner from 1978 stands not solely as probably the most important vehicles of the 3-litre F1 period, however of Method 1 itself”.

Andretti’s L79 Lotus is on the market at Bonhams’ Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023 sale on the weekend of November 24-26 on the Yas Marina Circuit.