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Swedish Formula 3 1978

After easily winning the 1977 series, Anders Olofsson and his familiar Ralt RT1/77 concentrated on the European series in 1978, losing that championship by the narrowest of margins to Jan Lammers. When Olofsson had time to take in Swedish rounds, he won comfortably, and retained his national championship. Ulf Svensson had a brand new Ralt for what was to be his final season of racing, and came second to Olofsson but in reality was nowhere near as fast. Thorbjörn Carlsson was also a race winner, in his two-year-old Ralt. Slim Borgudd was the fourth of the main runners, also in a two-year-old Ralt.

The races

23 Apr 1978 > Knutstorp

06 May 1978 > Goodrich Trofén at Kinnekullering

14 May 1978 > Comfort Trofén at Anderstorp

16 Jun 1978 > Anderstorp

09 Jul 1978 > Västkustloppet at Falkenburg

06 Aug 1978 > Kvällspostens Newsrace at Knutstorp

13 Aug 1978 > Kanonloppet Karlskoga

09 Sep 1978 > Mantorp Park

Svenska Formel 3 Mästerskapet events shown in bold

1978 Svenska Formel 3 Mästerskapet table

1Anders OlofssonRalt RT1/77 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor36 pts3 wins
2Ulf SvenssonRalt RT1/78 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor28 pts1 win
3Thorbjörn CarlssonRalt RT1/76 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor26 pts1 win
4Tommy 'Slim' BorguddRalt RT1/76 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor22 pts 
5=Stefan JohanssonArgo JM1 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor9 pts1 win
5=Bo MartinssonMarch 753 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor9 pts 
5=Pär OlssonChevron B38 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor9 pts 

Points table from Autosport 23 Nov 1978 p32.

Although the Ralt RT1 design was entering its fourth season, Ron Tauranac had developed the car considerably, and introduced revised rear suspension geometry, as well as the wider track front end from the Formula Atlantic car. The Ralt won nine out of 16 European Championship rounds, and 24 out of 29 British rounds. The March 783 never achieved its potential because no team using it had the ability to develop it. Chevron focused on the European series with their new Chevron B43, and were unlucky that works driver Patrick Gaillard did not win the Monaco GP. Elio De Angelis won it in his older B38 but managed to annoy almost everyone in the process. Siegried Stohr won the Italian series for Chevron in Pino Trivellato's team. Prost also won one European race in his Martini MK21B, but quite how a midfield runner was able to do that with the only Renault engine in the field was much debated.

See Autosport's full Formula 3 seasonal survey: 23 Nov 1978 pp30-37.