Targa Florio 1961

Willy Mairesse at the wheel of a Ferrari 250TRI / 60

Porsche 718 RS61, here at the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1962 with Hans Herrmann at the wheel. With the same type of car, Hans Herrmann and Edgar Barth finished the Targa in third place in the overall ranking

The 45th Targa Florio , also Targa Florio, Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie, Sicilia , took place in Sicily on April 30, 1961 and was the second round of the sports car world championship of that year.

The race

After the death of the founder and namesake of the Targa, Vincenzo Florio in 1959, the organizing committee was left without permanent leadership; a circumstance that had a negative effect on the organization and implementation of the races in 1959 and 1960 . Before the 1961 race, the racing driver and president of the Palermo Automobile Club , Prince Gaetano Starrabba di Giardinelli , was elected the new president of the SIAST club.

As in previous years, the Targa was also part of the sports car world championship this year. The season opened in March with the Sebring 12-hour race . At Sebring International Raceway won Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien on a plant - Ferrari 250TRI . The second race of the first Ferrari mid-engined sports car has been announced for the race in Sicily . Two Dino 246SPs were prepared for Gendebien and Phil Hill as well as Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and Richie Ginther . There was also a 250TRI that was driven by Willy Mairesse and Ricardo Rodríguez . In addition to the works drivers Edgar Barth and Hans Herrmann and the two Britons Stirling Moss and Graham Hill, Porsche signed the Swede Joakim Bonnier and the US American Dan Gurney for their 718 RS . The Italian local hero Nino Vaccarella drove a Maserati Tipo 63 together with Maurice Trintignant . For the French veteran it was the first time a Targa Florio competed. The second Maserati from Scuderia Serenissima was driven by Umberto Maglioli and Giorgio Scarlatti .

Porsche and Ferrari dominated the race from the start. Stirling Moss took the lead and on the first lap, after a few kilometers, the first Ferrari, the 246SP with Phil Hill at the wheel, retired after an accident. On the fourth lap, Willy Mairesse had to give up the race due to a leak in the tank.

At the first pit stop of Trips, Ferrari racing director Romolo Tavoni decided, to the chagrin of Richie Ginther, that Olivier Gendebien should continue driving the Trips car. Gendebien succeeded in significantly reducing the gap to Graham Hill , who had taken over the car from Moss.

The race was decided by a gearbox damage to the still leading Moss on the penultimate lap. This cleared the way to victory for von Trips and Gendebien, who drove the new 246SP to its first victory on its second outing.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S 3.0	162	SEFAC Ferrari	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari Dino 246SP	10
2	S 2.0	134	Porsche KG	Joakim Bonnier Dan Gurney	Porsche 718 RS61	10
3	S 2.0	132	Porsche KG	Hans Herrmann Edgar Barth	Porsche 718 RS61	10
4th	S 3.0	152	Scuderia Serenissima	Nino Vaccarella Maurice Trintignant	Maserati Tipo 63	10
5	S 3.0	198	Scuderia Serenissima	Umberto Maglioli Giorgio Scarlatti	Maserati Tipo 63	10
6th	GT 2.5	92	Porsche KG	Paul-Ernst Strähle Antonio Pucci	Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL	10
7th	GT 2.5	96	Porsche KG	Herbert Linge Fritz Huschke von Hanstein	Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL	10
8th	GT 1.3	38	José Rosinski	José Rosinski Bernard Consten	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	10
9	GT 1.3	4th	Etna	Vito Coco sand	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	10
10	GT 1.3	30th	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Sergio Pedretti Franco Boroni	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	10
11	GT 1.3	10	Baldassare Taormina	Baldassare Taormina Pasquale Tacci	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS	10
12	GT 1.3	18th	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Hans Bauer Roberto Sgorbati	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	10
13	GT 1.3	26th	Balarm	Emanuele Trapani Bartolomeo Donato	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS	10
14th	GT 1.3	34	Montegrappa	Enzo Buzzetti Renzo Sinibaldi	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	10
15th	S 1.0	70	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Umberto Bini Giancarlo Rigamonti	Osca S1000	10
16	GT 1.3	12	Etna	Giuseppe Grasso Vito Sabbia	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	10
17th	GT 2.5	94	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Giulio Cabianca Elio Zagato	Lancia Flaminia Zagato	10
18th	GT 2.5	98	San Rizzo	Franco Lisitano Benedetto Catano	Fiat 8V	10
19th	S 1.0	56	Alto Lazio	Massimo Natili Giuseppe Cucchiarelli	Giaur-Fiat	10
Not classified
20th	GT 1.3	16	Pescara	Pietro Laureati Domenico Santoleri	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	10
21st	S 2.0	138	Paolo Samona	Paolo Samona Giuseppe de Sarzana	Maserati A6GCS	10
22nd	S 3.0	154	San Marco	Pietro Ferraro Armando Zampiero	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	10
23	S 3.0	156	Etna	Giuseppe Gasso Giovanni Giordano	Ferrari 250 GT SWB	10
Failed
24	GT 1.6	120	Osca	Ludovico Scarfiotti Colin Davis	Osca 1500S	9
25th	S 2.0	136	Porsche KG	Stirling Moss Graham Hill	Porsche 718 RS61	9
26th	GT 1.3	28	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Ivanhoe Avorio Carlo Facetti	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	7th
27	S 1.0	74	Etna	Gregorio Filippone Francesco Patané	Osca MT4 1000	7th
28	GT 1.3	40	Campidoglio	Gianni Bulgari Maurizio Grana	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	6th
29	S 1.0	60	Bardahl Italy	Marcello de Luca di Lizzano Attilio Brandi	Osca S1000	6th
30th	S 1.0	66	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Massimo Leto di Priolo Ottavio Prandoni	Fiat-Abarth 1000S	6th
31	S 1.0	72	Balarm	Mario Raimondo Checo D'Angelo	Osca MT4 1000	6th
32	GT 1.3	6th	Antonio Accardi	Antonio Accardi Alessandro Federico	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	5
33	GT 1.3	14th	Guido Garufi	Guido Garufi Franco Tagliavia	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	5
34	GT 1.3	20th	Pescara	Ermete Bosco Bruno Bevilacqua	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS	5
35	GT 1.3	22nd	Nissena	Mario Tropia Giuseppe Parla	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS	5
36	GT 1.3	24	Nissena	Michele Allegrini Clemente Avventurieri	Alfa Romeo Giulietta S.	5
37	S 1.0	54	Gérard Laureau	Gérard Laureau François Jaeger	DB HBR5	5
38	S 1.0	64	Monte Pellegrino	Domenico Rotolo Salvatore Sirchia	Osca MT4 1000	5
39	GT 2.5	100	Monte Pellegrino	Sergio Mantia Giovanni Napoli	Fiat 8V	5
40	GT 2.5	106	Etna	Gian Carlo Carfi "Comar"	Lancia Flaminia	5
41	S 1.6	112	William Schuldt	William owes Pat Garret	Stanguellini 1100	5
42	S 1.0	78	Virgilio Conrero	Francesco de Leonibus Gino Munaron	Lotus Eleven	4th
43	S 1.6	114	Balarm	Pietro Termini Rosario Montalbano	Ermini	4th
44	S 2.0	142	Scuderia Serenissima	Mennato Boffa Nino Todaro	Maserati Tipo 60	4th
45	GT 1.3	8th	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Salvatore Leto di Priolo Corrado Manfredini	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	3
46	S 1.0	62	Scuderia Serenissima	Carlo-Maria Abate Gianni Balzarini	Fiat-Abarth 1000S	3
47	S 3.0	160	SEFAC Ferrari	Ricardo Rodríguez Willy Mairesse	Ferrari 250TRI / 60	3
48	GT 2.5	102	Joseph Thomas	Joseph Thomas Siegfried Günther	Porsche 356B Super 90	2
49	GT 1.3	2	Etna	Salvatore Russo Giulio Pernice	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	1
50	GT 2.5	108	Balarm	Francesco di Benedetto Giuseppe D'Amico	Alfa Romeo 2600	1
51	S 2.0	144	Giuseppe Allotta	Giuseppe Allotta Silvestre Semilia	Maserati A6GCS	1
52	GT 2.5	104	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Marino Guarnieri Brian Whitehouse	Lancia Flamina	1
53	S 2.0	140	Centro-Sud	Vincenzo Riolo Franco Bernabei	Maserati 200SI	1
54	S 3.0	164	SEFAC Ferrari	Phil Hill Richie Ginther	Ferrari Dino 246SP	1
Not started
55	GT 1.3	32	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Sergio Pedretti Tommaso Carletti	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	1
56	GT 1.3	36	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Luciano Conti Giancarlo Venturi	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ	2
57	S 1.0	52	Sila	Camillo Giuliani Angelo Rizzo	Fiat Ciolino	3
58	S 1.0	58	Etna	Giuseppe D'Amico U. Fichera	Fiat Ciolino	4th
59	S 1.0	68	Remo Cattini	Remo Cattini Giuseppe Bonomo	Fiat-Abarth 1000S	5
60	S 1.0	76	Alfonso Vella	Alfonso Vella Giuseppe Virgilio	Fiat Ciolino	6th
61	S 1.0	80	Michele Paratore	Michele Paratore Seire	Fiat-Abarth 1000S	7th
62	S 1.6	116	Osca	Ada Pace Gianfranco Stagna	Osca 1100S	8th
63	S 1.6	118	Segesta	Gaspare Cavaliere Gaetano Starrabba	Porsche 718 RSK	9
64	S 1.6	T	Porsche KG	Dan Gurney	Porsche 718 RSK61	10

¹ not started ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ not started ⁷ not started ⁸ not started ⁹ not started ¹⁰ accident during training

Only in the entry list

No further reports are known for this race.

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S 3.0	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari Dino 246SP	Overall victory
S 2.0	Dan Gurney	Joakim Bonnier	Porsche 718RS61	Rank 2
S 1.0	Umberto Bini	Giancarlo Rigamonti	Osca S1000	Rank 15
GT 2.5	Paul-Ernst Straehle	Antonio Pucci	Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL	Rank 6
GT 1.3	José Rosinski	Bernard Consten	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Zagato	Rank 8

Racing data

• Registered: 64
• Started: 54
• Rated: 23
• Race classes: 5
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: hot and dry
• Route length: 72,000 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6:57: 39,400 hours
• Overall rounds of the winning team: 10
• Total distance of the winning team: 720,000 km
• Winner's average: 103.433 km / h
• Fastest training time: Stirling Moss - Porsche 718 RS61 (# 136)
• Fastest race lap: Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips - Ferrari Dino 246SP (# 162) - 40: 03.200 = 107.856 km / h
• Racing series: 2nd round of the sports car world championship in 1961
• Racing series: 3rd round of the FIA GT Cup 1961

literature

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

Web links

Commons : Targa Florio 1961  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Race results

Previous race of the Sebring 12-hour race in 1961

Sports car world championship

Successor 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1961