Sebring 12 hour race in 1959

Lancia Appia Zagato competed in the class for GT vehicles up to 1.3 liter displacement

The eighth Sebring 12-Hour Race , also known as the 12-Hour Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance for the Amoco Trophy, Sebring , took place on March 21, 1959 at Sebring International Raceway and was the first race of the sports car world championship of that year .

The race

The sports car world championship began in 1959 with the Sebring 12-hour race . The event itself took place in pouring rain and was marked by numerous accidents. The American racing driver Ed Lawrence had a fatal accident in a Maserati 300S during training .

The race ended after 12: 02: 31.800 hours of driving time with a one-two for Scuderia Ferrari . Phil Hill , Olivier Gendebien , Dan Gurney and Chuck Daigh won with a lead of one lap over teammates Jean Behra and Cliff Allison .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S 3.0	7th	Scuderia Ferrari	Dan Gurney Chuck Daigh Phil Hill Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250TR59	188
2	S 3.0	8th	Scuderia Ferrari	Jean Behra Cliff Allison	Ferrari 250TR59	187
3	S 2.0	31	Porsche Auto Company	Wolfgang von Trips Joakim Bonnier	Porsche 718 RSK	184
4th	S 1.5	34	Cyrus L. Fulton	Bob Holbert Don Sesslar	Porsche 718 RSK	182
5	S 1.5	34	Porsche Auto Company	John Fitch Edgar Barth	Porsche 718 RSK	181
6th	S 3.0	6th	ED Martin	ED Martin Lance Reventlow	Ferrari 250TR58	174
7th	S 3.0	14th	James Johnston	Ed Lunken Augie Pabst Gaston Andrey	Ferrari 250TR58	174
8th	S 1.5	35	Precision Motors	Jack McAfee Ken Miles	Porsche 718 RSK	173
9	GT 3.5	70	Scuderia Ferrari	Howard Hively Richie Ginther	Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder	171
10	S 1.5	37	Chester Flynn	Ernie Erickson Ed Hugus	Porsche 718 RSK	170
11	GT 1.6	33	Porsche Auto Company	Fritz Huschke from Hanstein Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 356A Carrera GT	164
12	S 3.0	3	Briggs Cunningham	Walt Hansgen Dick Thompson	Lister	164
13	S 2.0	19T	North American Racing Team	Lloyd Casner Jim Hunt Dan Collins	Ferrari 500TRC58	164
14th	GT 2.0	25th	AC Cars Ltd.	Bobby Burns Roy Jackson-Moore James Cook	AC Ace	164
15th	S 3.0	4th	Briggs Cunningham	Briggs Cunningham Lake Underwood Russ Boss	Lister	164
16	GT 1.3	44	Jake Kaplan	Jake Kaplan Charlie Rainville	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	162
17th	S 750	59	German & Bonnet	Gérard Laureau Paul Armagnac	DB HBR4	162
18th	S 750	60	Alejandro de Tomaso	Alejandro de Tomaso Denise McCluggage Isabelle Haskell Ricardo Rodríguez	Osca S750	161
19th	S 1.1	48	Elva Engineering Co.	Frank Baptista Charles Wallace Art Tweedale	Elva Mk.IV	160
20th	GT 3.5	15th	Auto Sport Club Havana	Alfonso Gómez-Mena Juan Montalvo	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	160
21st	GT 1.3	45	Team Lotus	Pete Lovely Jay Chamberlain Sam Weiss	Lotus Elite	160
22nd	GT 2.0	24	AC Cars Ltd.	Arch Means Charles Kurtz Ross Wees	AC Ace	159
23	S 1.1	49	Elva Engineering Co.	Burdette Martin William Jordan Chuck Dietrich	Elva Mk.IV	158
24	GT 2.0	23T	AC Cars Ltd.	Lonnie Rix Ed Rahal	AC Ace	158
25th	GT 2.0	26th	HH Arnolt	Max Goldman Stanley Arnolt Ralph Durbin	Arnolt Bolide	155
26th	GT 2.0	22nd	Fergus Motors	Mike Rothschild Arch McNeill	Morgan Plus 4	155
27	GT 1.6	28	Hambro Auto Corp.	Ray Saidel Gus Ehrman	MGA twin cam	155
28	GT 750	64	Roosevelt Auto Co. Inc.	Bill Rutan Ray Cuomo Paul Richards	Fiat-Abarth 750 Monza	152
29	GT 750	62	Roosevelt Auto Co. Inc.	Lanzo Cussini Remo Cattini	Fiat-Abarth 750 Monza	150
30th	GT 750	65	George F. Schrafft	Bob Kuhn Jim Jeffords	Fiat-Abarth 750 Monza	149
31	GT 1.0	45	Hambro Auto Corp.	Phil Stiles Hugh Sutherland	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	149
32	GT 750	63	Roosevelt Auto Co. Inc.	Mario Poltonieri Alfonso Thiele	Fiat-Abarth 750 Monza	147
33	S 1.5	40	Charles Moran	Charles Moran George Rand	Lotus Eleven Le Mans	145
34	GT 1.6	29	Hambro Auto Corp.	John Dalton Jim Parkinson	MGA twin cam	145
35	GT 1.3	51	Harry Blanchard	Harry Blanchard Skip Callahan	Lancia Appia Zagato	144
36	GT 1.0	53	Hambro Auto Corp.	Ed Leavens Harald Kunz	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	142
37	S 750	58	German & Bonnet	Henri Perrier Bill Wood	DB HBR4	141
38	GT 1.0	55	Hambro Auto Corp.	Fred Hayes John Christy John Colgate	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	141
39	GT 1.3	43	Louis Comito	Bob Pfaff Louis Comito Wynn Kramarsky Tom O'Brien	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	140
40	GT 1.3	52	Charles Kreisler	Peter Baumberger Warren Rohlfs Walter Cronkite	Lancia Appia Zagato	140
41	S 2.0	18th	Carroll Shelby Sports Cars	Jim Hall Hap Sharp	Maserati 250S	138
42	GT 1.3	42	Bob Grossman	Bob Rubin Bob Grossman Louis Comito	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	134
43	GT 1.0	80	Turner Sports Cars Ltd.	Fred Dear Smokey Drolet	Turner 750 Sports	128
44	S 1.1	47	Team Lotus	Tom Fleming Bill Schade Harry Dager	Lotus Eleven	123
45	GT 1.6	30th	Hambro Auto Corp.	Ray Pickering Jack Flaherty Sherman Decker	MGA twin cam	121
46	GT 3.5	16	RRR Enterprises	George Reed Don O'Dell George Arents	Ferrari 250 GT LWB	110
47	S 1.1	56	Automobile OSCA	Ricardo Rodríguez Frank Bott	Osca S950	106
48	GT 2.0	20th	Standard Motor Company	Robert Samm John Bentley Fred Moore	Triumph TR3	98
Disqualified
49	S 3.0	2	The Lister Corp.	Stirling Moss Ivor Bueb	Lister	98
Failed
50	S 3.0	10	North American Racing Team	Rod Gareth Gilbert Geitner	Ferrari 250TR	130
51	GT 2.0	21st	Standard Motor Company	Charlie Kolb Fred Moore Gene Hobbs	Triumph TR3	128
52	S 2.0	27	Autosport Ltd.	Harry Entwistle Robert Hanna	Lotus 15	126
53	S 1.5	38	Automobile OSCA	Carl Haas Frank Campbell Jay Middleton	Osca S1500	98
54	S 750	66	Sandy MacArthur	Robert Roloson Sandy MacArthur	Stanguellini Sport Bialbero 750	97
55	GT 1.0	57	German & Bonnet	Howard Hanna Richard Toland	DB HBR5	82
56	S 750	61	Automobile OSCA	Alan Markelson Rees Makins	Osca 187S	82
57	S 3.0	8th	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Ferrari 250TR59	77
58	S 3.0	11	Mexican National Auto Club	Pedro Rodríguez Paul O'Shea	Ferrari 250TR58	66
59	GT 1.3	46	Team Lotus	Jay Chamberlain Sam Weiss	Lotus Elite	66
60	S 1.5	36	Count of Döry	Roberto Mieres Anton from Döry Pedro from Döry	Porsche 718 RSK	34
61	S 1.1	50	MRJ Wyllie	MRJ Wyllie Skip Lange Margaret Wyllie	Elva Mk.IV	34
62	S 3.0	1	Aston Martin David Brown	Roy Salvadori Carroll Shelby	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300	32
63	GT 1.3	41	Fred van Beuren	Fred van Beuren Javier Velasquez Mario Mercader	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	31
64	S 1.5	39	Los Amigos	Jean Lucas Jean-François Malle	Cooper T49 Monaco	20th
65	GT 3.5	17th	Joe Sheppard David Schiff	Duncan Forlong Joe Sheppard David Schiff	Aston Martin DB2 / 4	11
Not started
66	S 3.0	5	Rally motors	Ed Lawrence James Cook Ralph Durbin	Maserati 300S	1
67	S 3.0	19th	North American Racing Team	Lloyd Casner Jim Hunt	Ferrari 250TR	2
68	S 1.5	72	Kind of Bunker Motors	Kind of bunker	Porsche 718 RSK	3
69	S 1.5	73	Briggs Cunningham	Briggs Cunningham Lake Underwood	Porsche 718 RSK	4th
70	GT 1.3	75	Ross Durant	Ross Durant George Peck	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	5
71	GT 1.0	78	Bahamas Auto Club	Sydney Oakes Greta Oakes Peter Bethell	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	6th
72	S 3.0	82	John Fulp	John Fulp	Ferrari 250TR	7th
73	GT 2.0	23	AC Cars Ltd.	Lonnie Rix Ed Rahal George Avent	Ferrari 250TR	8th

¹ fatal accident involving Lawrence ² start with the replacement car ³ reserve ⁴ reserve ⁵ reserve ⁶ reserve ⁷ not started ⁸ accident during a training drive

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
74	GT 1.6	T	Hambro Auto Corp.	Sherman Decker	MGA
75	GT 1.0	T	Hambro Auto Corp.	John Colgate	Austin-Healey Sprite
76	GT 2.0	71	HH Arnolt		Arnolt Bolide
77	GT 1.6	74	Quiver Motors	John Cuevas Burdette Martin	Porsche 356 Carrera GT
78	S 1.6	76	Jay Chamberlain	Millard Ripley William Milliken Steve Wilder	Lotus Eleven
79	S 1.1	77	Alan Patterson	Alan Patterson Joachim Chamber	Elva Mk.IV
80	GT 2.0	81	William Love	William Love Skip Conklin	AC Ace
81	GT 1.3	83	Charles Abry	Newton Davis Charles Abry	Lancia Appia Zagato

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S 3.0	Dan Gurney	Chuck Daigh		Ferrari 250TR59	Overall victory
S 2.0	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Joakim Bonnier		Porsche 718 RSK	Rank 3
S 1.5	Bob Holbert	Don Sesslar		Porsche 718 RSK	Rank 4
S 1.1	Frank Baptista	Charles Wallace	Art tweedale	Elva Mk.IV	Rank 19
S 750	Gérard Laureau	Paul Armagnac		DB HBR4	Rank 17
GT 3.5	Howard Hively	Richie Ginther		Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder	Rank 9
GT 2.0	Bobby Burns	Roy Jackson-Moore	James Cook	AC Ace	Rank 14
GT 1.6	Fritz Huschke from Hanstein	Carel Godin de Beaufort		Porsche 356A Carrera GT	Rank 11
GT 1.3	Jake Kaplan	Charlie Rainville		Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	Rank 16
GT 1.0	Phil Stiles	Hugh Sutherland		Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	Rank 31st
GT 750	Bill Rutan	Ray Cuomo	Paul Richards	Fiat-Abarth 750 Monza	Rank 28

Racing data

• Registered: 81
• Started: 65
• Rated: 48
• Race classes: 11
• Spectators: 40,000
• Race day weather: rain
• Route length: 8.369 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:02: 31,800 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 188
• Total distance of the winning team: 1573.295 km
• Winner's average: 130.648 km / h
• Pole position: Stirling Moss - Lister (# 2) - 3: 31,000
• Fastest race lap: Jean Behra - Ferrari 250TR59 (# 24) - 3: 21.600 = 149.439 km / h
• Racing series: 1st round of the 1959 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Ken Breslauer: Sebring. The official History of America's Great Sports Car Race. David Bull, Cambridge MA 1995, ISBN 0-9649722-0-4 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Results at Racing Sports Cars

Predecessor race RAC Tourist Trophy 1958

Sports car world championship

Succession race Targa Florio 1959