Targa Florio 1959

Porsche 718 RSK; This vehicle was used by Porsche as a training vehicle for the works drivers before the race

The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Fantuzzi Spyder owned by Jean Behra and Tony Brooks (0768TR59)

Nino Vaccarella in the Maserati A6GCS / 53 shortly before the start

The 43rd Targa Florio , also Targa Florio, Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie, Sicilia , took place in Sicily on May 24, 1959 and was the second round of the sports car world championship of that year.

Before the race

The 1959 sports car world championship began in March with the Sebring 12-hour race . The race at Sebring International Raceway ended with a double victory for the Scuderia Ferrari racing cars . Dan Gurney and Chuck Daigh won in a Ferrari 250TR59 ahead of their teammates Jean Behra and Cliff Allison . The two Porsche drivers Wolfgang von Trips and Joakim Bonnier crossed the finish line in third place .

The race

For the German sports car manufacturer Porsche , the 1959 Targa Florio marked the beginning of the success story in the sports car world championship. Races for this championship have been held since 1953 and at the Targa the Porsche works team was able to win a championship run for the first time. The role of favorites was clearly assigned before the race. In the class for sports cars up to 3-liter displacement, only three works cars from Scuderia Ferrari were registered.

The race turned into a disaster for Ferrari; all three Testa Rossa were canceled. On the first lap, Olivier Gendebien , who shared the cockpit of a Testa Rossa with Phil Hill , had to park his car on the track because of a broken gear. A special drama took place around the vehicle of Jean Behra and Tony Brooks . The first four laps of the race were dominated by Joakim Bonnier in the agile Porsche 718 RSK , which drove one record lap after the other. Behra tried to achieve these lap times in the Testa Rossa, but got off the track in a downhill section and the car overturned down the slope. Spectators pushed the car back onto the track and the uninjured Behra continued the drive with the severely damaged sports car. At the pits, he handed the car to his teammate Brooks, who refused to get in. This was followed by a loud exchange with Ferrari racing director Romolo Tavoni , who reminded Brooks of his works contract. Brooks gave in and continued with the provisionally repaired Testa Rossa. One lap later, he too had an accident in which the rear axle was torn out of the chassis and had to retire. Dan Gurney and Cliff Allison's third works car failed due to a defect in the power transmission.

With one lap to go, five works Porsches were in the lead when there was a little drama there too. The superior leading 718 RSK from Bonnier and Wolfgang von Trips had to be shut down after a technical defect. As a result, Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel won the first sports car world championship run for Porsche.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S 1.5	112	Porsche KG	Edgar Barth Wolfgang Seidel	Porsche 718 RSK	14th
2	S 1.5	118	Porsche KG	Eberhard Mahle Paul-Ernst Straehle Herbert Linge	Porsche 550 RS	14th
3	GT 2.6	102	Porsche KG	Huschke by Hanstein Antonio Pucci	Porsche 356A Carrera	14th
4th	GT 2.6	96	Porsche KG	Paul-Ernst Straehle Herbert Linge Eberhard Mahle	Porsche 356A Carrera	14th
5	S 2.0	134	Centro-Sud	Mennato Boffa Piero Drogo	Maserati A6G	14th
6th	GT 1.3	38	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Pepe Schnino Colin Davis Mario Sannino	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato	14th
7th	S 1.1	84	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Umberto Bini Luciano Mantovani	Osca 1100S	14th
8th	S 2.0	132	Mario Cammarata	Mario Cammarata Domenico Tramontana	Ferrari 500TRC	14th
9	GT + 2.6	120	Nissena	Salvatore La Pira Francesco Siracusa	Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta	14th
10	S 2.0	138	Giuseppe Allotta	Giuseppe Allotta Nino Vaccarella	Maserati A6GCS / 53	14th
11	S 1.1	72	Monte Pellegrino	Domenico Rotolo Gaspare Cavaliere	Osca MT4 1100	14th
12	GT 1.3	30th	Monte Pellegrino	Antonio Picone Franco Tagliavia Sergio Mantia	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider	14th
13	GT 1.3	46	Nissena	Vito Coco Vito Sabbia	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce	14th
14th	GT 750	8th	Janua	Enrico Carini Ernesto Prinoth	Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato	14th
15th	GT 1.3	24	Nissena	Carlo Bartocelli Giuseppe Parla Salvatore Panepinto	Fiat 1200 Boano	14th
16	GT 1.3	20th	Pietro Laureati	Pietro Laureati Ivo Pompei	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce	14th
17th	S 750	50	Set coli	Sesto Leonardi Alfredo Tinazzo	Osca 750S	14th
18th	S 1.1	70	Tommy Wisdom	Tommy Wisdom Bernard Cahier	Austin-Healey Sprite	14th
19th	S 750	60	Montegrappa	Gustavo Laureati Giuseppe Celani	Osca 750S	14th
20th	S 750	56	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Giancarlo Rigamonti Anna Maria Peduzzi	Osca 750S	14th
21st	GT 1.3	28	Paris	José Rosinski Claude Bobrowski	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato	14th
Not classified
22nd	S 1.1	76	Clemente Biondetti	Enrico Manzini Attilio Brandi	Ermini	14th
23	GT 750	6th	Nissena	Carmelo Giugno Salvatore Giuffrida	Fiat 500	14th
24	GT 2.6	92	San Rizzo	Giovanni Giordano Carlo Fulci	Fiat 8V Zagato	14th
Failed
25th	S 2.0	130	Porsche AG	Joakim Bonnier Wolfgang von Trips	Porsche 718 RSK	13
26th	S 3.0	150	Scuderia Ferrari	Jean Behra Tony Brooks	Ferrari 250TR59	5
27	S 3.0	152	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Ferrari 250TR59	1
28	GT 750	4th	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	Gérard Laureau Jean-François Jaeger	DB HBR4
29	S 1.5	14th	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Edoardo Lualdi Ludovico Scarfiotti	Osca MT4
30th	GT 1.3	26th	GS Savio	Teodoro Zeccoli Roberto Rosignoli	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce
31	GT 1.3	32	Giuseppe Ruggiero	Giuseppe Ruggiero Ciro Monaci	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato
32	GT 1.3	34	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud Beniatt	DB HBR5
33	GT 1.3	36	Camidoglio	Sergio Bettoja P. Feroldi	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato
34	GT 1.3	40	Racing Club 19th	Ada Pace Carlo Peroglio	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato
35	GT 1.3	42	Enrico Giaccone	Enrico Giaccone Vincenzo Ribaudo	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce
36	GT 1.3	44	Racing Club 19th	Francesco de Leonibus Carlo Peroglio	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato
37	S 750	52	Montegrappa	Amerigo Brachetti Elio Pandolfo	Giaur
38	S 750	58	Monte Pellegrino	Giacomo Marino Salvatore Sirchia	Fiat-Abarth 750
39	S 1.1	74	Monte Pellegrino	Francesco La Mattina Armando Soldano Francesco Soldano	Osca 1100S
40	S 1.1	78	Monte Pellegrino	Emanuele Trapani Bartolomeo Donato	Osca 1100S
41	S 1.1	80	Falanga	Antonio di Salvo Silvestre Semilia	Roar Fiat 1100
42	S 1.1	82	Set coli	Enzo Buzzetti Giuseppe Rossi	Osca MT4 1100
43	GT 2.6	90	Giuseppe Bologna	Rosario Montalbano Gaspare Bologna	Fiat 8V
44	GT 2.6	94	Pietro Termini	Alfonso Vella Pietro Termini	Fiat 8V
45	GT 2.6	100	Rocco Finocchiaro	Rocco Finocchiaro Ignazio Consiglio	Fiat 8V
46	GT 2.6	104	Sorrentino	Vincenzo Sorrentino Franco Pisano	Lancia Flaminia
47	S 1.5	116	Christian Goethals	Christian Goethals	Porsche 550 RS
48	GT + 2.6	122	Mediterranea	Nino Todaro Gennaro Alterio	Ferrari 250 GT
49	S 2.0	136	Porsche AG	Umberto Maglioli Hans Herrmann	Porsche 718 RSK
50	S 2.0	140	Gaetano Starrabba	Gaetano Starrabba Domenico Lo Coco	Ferrari 500TRC
51	S 2.0	142	Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti	Giulio Cabianca Giorgio Scarlatti	Ferrari Dino 196S
52	S 3.0	154	Scuderia Ferrari	Dan Gurney Cliff Allison	Ferrari 250TR59
Not started
53	GT 750	2	Elio Lenza	Elio Lenza Filippo Golia	Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato	1
54	GT 750	10	Aretusa	Aldo Tine Gianni Carpinteri Matteo Sgarlata	Fiat-Abarth 750	2
55	GT 1.3	22nd	Francesco Gambi	Francesco Gambi	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce	3
56	S 750	54	Spampinato	Gaetano Spampinato	Fiat-Abarth 750	4th
57	GT 2.6	98	Monte Pellegrino	Sergio Mantia Giovanni Napoli	Lancia Flaminia	5
58	S 1.5	110	Henri Perrier	Henri Perrier Binachon Gilles Nebon Carle	Osca MT4	6th

¹ not started ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ not started

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
59	S 1.1	86	John Campbell-Jones	John Campbell-Jones Keith Hall	Lotus Eleven

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S 3.0	no participant in the finish
S 2.0	Mennato Boffa	Piero Drogo		Maserati A6G	Rank 5
S 1.5	Edgar Barth	Wolfgang Seidel		Porsche 718 RSK	Overall victory
S 1.1	Umberto Bini	Luciano Mantovani		Osca 1100S	Rank 7
S 750	Sesto Leonardi	Alfredo Tinazzo		Osca 750S	Rank 17
GT + 2.6	Salvatore La Pira	Francesco Siracusa		Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta	Rank 9
GT 2.6	Huschke von Hanstein	Antonio Pucci		Porsche 356A Carrera	Rank 3
GT 1.3	Pepe Schnino	Colin Davis	Mario Sannino	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato	Rank 6
GT 750	Enrico Carini	Ernesto Prinoth		Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato	Rank 14

Racing data

• Registered: 59
• Started: 52
• Valued: 24
• Race classes: 9
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry, rain in the final stages
• Route length: 72,000 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 11:02:21,800 hours
• Overall laps of the winning team: 14
• Total distance of the winning team: 1008,000 km
• Winner's average: 91.309 km / h
• Pole position: none
• Fastest race lap: Joakim Bonnier - Porsche 718 RSK (# 130) - 43: 11.600 = 100.015 km / h
• Racing series: 2nd round of the 1959 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Pino Fondi: Targa Florio - 20th Century Epic. Giorgio Nada Editore Vimodrone 2006, ISBN 88-7911-270-8 .
• 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

Commons : Targa Florio 1959  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Results at Racing Sports Cars

Previous race of the Sebring 12-hour race in 1959

Sports car world championship

Successor 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1959