1980 World Sportscar Championship season

The 1980 World Sportscar Championship season was the 28th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship for Makes which was contested as a series running under both Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) regulations. It ran from 2 February 1980 to 28 September 1980, and comprised 11 races, including races run with Camel GT Championship.

A World Challenge for Endurance Drivers was also held over an eleven round series, six of which were run concurrently with rounds of the World Championship for Makes. The Challenge was not awarded World Championship status, but would be promoted the following season and join the Championship for Makes.

The 16 combined events made for one of the most gruelling and varied championships in the history of motor racing. Some events, notably Le Mans and Daytona featured prototype sports cars. Others like the second shorter Daytona race and the Spa 24 Hour were touring car events with the rest consisting mostly of Grand Touring sportscars. Some of the European races featured Sports 2000 open bodied sports cars, but nothing larger than two litres engine capacity. No single driver started more than ten of the 16 races, with the Monza 1000 and the Riverside 5 Hour both occurring on the same day (and strangely both events counting towards the drivers title) no driver could attempt all 16. With over 1100 drivers competing it was one of the largest entries in the history of the sport.

The World Championship of Makes was contested in two classes, under and over 2000 cc of engine capacity. At the end of the championship Lancia and Porsche had won the two classes respectively with the same pointscore. The tie was broken in favour of Lancia, a fitting reward for the Italian manufacturer who had fielded a factory team of two or three Lancia Montecarlos across the European races featuring Formula One drivers and World Rally Champions like Riccardo Patrese, Eddie Cheever, Michele Alboreto, Piercarlo Ghinzani, Walter Röhrl and Markku Alén, as well as providing support to the Jolly Club team's Montecarlo who made trips to North America when the factory team did not.

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