ANGELO PARILLA

SENNA, FULLERTON AND THE 1980 WORLD CHAMP GIVEN AWAY TO THE OPPOSITION

1980. World Championship - Nivelles, Belgium. The International Federation had announced the introduction of 135 cc engines as of 1981 and the attendant revision of the category ladder as Formula K, Formula C, and Formula A. That was the last chance to see the creme of the crop of the 100 class compete.

Fullerton and Senna, our two DAP drivers, had dominated throughout the heats. To be honest… it had been a walk in the park until then! We were the strongest on track, no doubt about it! The first final confirmed our superiority: Fullerton ruled the race in front of Peter de Bruyn. Instead, Senna had an “accident”; to be precise, he was literally shoved off track by Gysin. We filed for appeal, but instead of disqualifying the Swiss driver, the Federation decided a penalty would do. After that, Ayrton had to work hard to recover and managed to rise to seventh or eighth.