1959 Targa Florio
The 43° Targa Florio was a motor race for sportscars held on 24 May 1959 on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily, Italy. It was the second round of the 1959 F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship and the 43rd running of the Targa Florio. Early that year, the event founder, Vincenzo Florio died and his nephew Vincent Paladion promised to keep alive Florio's Targa. “The Targa must continue... Promise me!..” [1]
After the five main cars of Ferrari and Porsche failed in a race of attrition, it was won by Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel driving a Porsche 718 RSK, ahead of three more cars entered by Porsche KG. The 1-2-3-4 triumph was the first ever World Sports Car Championship race win for Porsche, and the fifth Targa victory for Stuttgart after 1922, 1924 and 1955 wins for Mercedes(-Benz). Umberto Maglioli and Fritz Huschke von Hanstein had won the 1956 Targa Florio for Porsche, but the Targa was not part of the World Championship that year. After 1955 as a one-off replacement, the Targa was a WSC event from 1958 to 1973. Porsche would not only win 11 Targa Florios in total, but also named their open top Porsche 911 after it.
Report
[edit source]Entry
[edit source]The event attracted fewer cars than in previous years, with 59 racing cars registered for this event,[2] instead of the 81 in 1958.[3] Of the 59 cars registered, 58 arrived for practice with 52 qualifying for and starting the race.[2]
Reigning champions, Ferrari had entered three of their latest 250 TR 59 for their squad of drivers; Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Tony Brooks, Olivier Gendebien, Jean Behra and Cliff Allison. Aston Martin had sent only one car to Sebring, but elected to miss the 1959 Sicily event after taking part in 1958, yet won all three remaining 1959 championship races and the World Championship. Maserati was not participating which large cars, thus there were no other entrants in the S3.0 class. The main opposition was expected to come from the smaller S2.0 class, with two aging Maserati A6GCS/53, two 4-cylinder Ferrari 500 TRC and a (Ferrari) Dino 196 S with the V6 engine.
Porsche mainly used the Porsche 547/3 quad-cam "Fuhrmann" engine in the small Porsche 718 RSK sportscar and in the Porsche 356 GT, either as basic 1.5-litre for the S1.5 class, or enlarged to 1.6-litre for the S2.0 and GT2.6 classes. Thus, the two main works Porsche 718 RSK given to Formula One drivers Jo Bonnier/Wolfgang von Trips and Hans Herrmann/Umberto Maglioli had small engines far away from the capacity limit of their S2.0 class.[4]
A third 718 with regular engine for the S1.5 class was given to Germans Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel to compete against two OSCA MT4 and two older private Porsche 550.
Race
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The 1959 Targa was meant to be a Ferrari in-house battle, but it was not to be. The nimble Porsche No. 130 of Bonnier was leading, setting fastest lap with 43:11.6 and 100.0150 km/h (62.147 mph) average, and the Ferraris had to be driven hard. Gendebien/Hill were out already after lap 1 with a transmission problem that later affected also Gurney/Allison. All the big Ferraris retired due to mechanical problems, with the initial mechanical problem of the Jean Behra car being a crash with rollover that left Behra uninjured while the battered car was put back on the road by spectators. Behra made it to the pits where Tony Brooks declined to pilot the wreck. Being reminded of the terms in his contract, he drove it until the axle broke.
This left Porsche alone to command the race, taking the top four places despite the loss of the two main S2.0 Porsche 718 RSK cars driven by F1 pilots. The leading Porsche 718 of Jo Bonnier and Wolfgang von Trips was forced to withdraw on the last lap,[1][2] leaving victory to the supporting S1.5 718 RSK driven by lesser known Germans, with three other Porsche completing a 1-2-3-4 triumph for Zuffenhausen.
Championship and Legacy
[edit source]As the 1956 Targa was not part of the 1956 World Sportscar Championship, due to 1955 being a one-off replacement for the cancelled Carrera Panamericana and the Mille Miglia being the Italian round until cancelled after 1957, it was the 1959 Targa that saw the first Porsche win in the World Sportscar Championship, with the pairing of Edgar Barth/Seidel. They took an impressive victory, with their Porsche 718 RSK completing 14 laps, covering 626.343 miles in just over 11 hours of racing, averaging a speed of 56.737 mph. Second place went to Stuttgart locals Eberhard Mahle, Paul-Ernst Strähle and Herbert Linge in an older private works-supported Porsche 550 RS, albeit 20 mins adrift. The podium was completed by another works Porsche, this time a GT-class 356A Carrera of Antonio Pucci and Huschke von Hanstein who were further 9 mins behind, the first GT car to finish. Surprisingly, the fourth car home, a private works-supported 356 further 4+ minutes behind, was driven by the same three-man crew that finished second.[5][2][6]
After finishing 3rd in the 1959 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa result meant Porsche took the lead in the 1959 World Sportscar Championship standing, with 12 points, over 8 for Sebring-winner Ferrari. This was the first time Ferrari had not topped the standings since March 1957.[7] After a 2nd place at the 1959 RAC Tourist Trophy in a season in which only the best 3 of 5 results were counted, Porsche was tied in points with Ferrari despite running only half the engine size, and not 12 but only 4 cylinders.
Official Classification
[edit source]Class Winners are in Bold text. All cars had to complete the full distance of 14 laps of 72km each for 1008km in total.
- Fastest Lap: Jo Bonnier, 43:01.6secs 100.0150 km/h (62.147 mph) [5][2][8]
Class Winners
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| Class | Winners | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports 3000 | No finishers | ||
| Sports 2000 | 134 | Maserati A6GCS/53 | Boffa / Drogo |
| Sports 1500 | 112 | Porsche 718 RSK | Barth / Seidel |
| Sports 1100 | 84 | Osca S1100 | Bini / Mantovani |
| Sports 750 | 50 | Osca S750 | Leonardi / Tinazzo |
| Grand Touring +2600 | 120 | Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta | La Pira / Siracusa |
| Grand Touring 2600 | 102 | Porsche 356A Carrera | von Hanstein / Pucci |
| Grand Touring 1300 | 38 | Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato | “Sepe” / Davis / Sannino |
| Grand Touring 750 | 8 | Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato | Carini / Prinoth |
Standings after the race
[edit source]| Pos | Championship | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Porsche |
12 |
| 2 |  Ferrari |
8 |
| 3 | Maserati |
2 |
| 4 | Alfa Romeo |
1 |
- Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.
Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 3 results out of the 5 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.
References
[edit source]- 1 2 "43^ TARGA FLORIO 24 maggio 1959".
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Targa Florio 1959 - Racing Sports Cars".
- ↑ "Targa Florio 1958 - Racing Sports Cars".
- ↑ "Targa Florio 1959 - Entry List - Racing Sports Cars".
- 1 2 "Reference at www.teamdan.com". Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
- ↑ "F2 Register - Index".
- ↑ Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 266
- ↑ "F2 Register - Index".
Further reading
[edit source]- Ed Heivink. Targa Florio: 1955-1973. Reinhard Klein. ISBN 978-3927458666