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]

The race was won by Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel driving a Porsche 718 RSK entered by Porsche KG.

Report[]

Entry[]

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. As Aston Martin elected to miss the event, there was no other entrants in the S3.0 class, therefore their main opposition would come from the works Porsches of Jo Bonnier, Wolfgang von Trips, Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel, but these were smaller engined cars and less powerful.^[4]

Race[]

This was meant to be a Ferrari battle, but it was not to be, as all the Ferraris retired due to mechanical problems. This left Porsche alone to command the race, taking the top four places. Their only issue was the leading Porsche 718 of Bonnier and von Trips being forced to withdraw on the last lap.^[1][2]

Porsche recorded their first win in the World Sportscar Champions, with the pairing of Barth/Seidel. They took an impressive victory, with their 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 the second Porsche of Eberhard Mahle, and Herbert Linge in a Porsche 550 RS, albeit 20 mins adrift. The podium was complete by another works Porsche, this time a 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 was driven by the same crew that finished second.^[5][2][6]

The result meant Porsche took the lead in the World Championship standing. This was the first time Ferrari had not topped the standings since March 1957.^[7]

Official Classification[]

Edgar Barth and Wolfgang Seidel won the race driving a Porsche 718 RSK similar to the example pictured above.

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos	No	Class	Driver		Entrant	Chassis	Laps	Reason Out
1st	112	S1.5	Edgar Barth	Wolfgang Seidel	Porsche KG	Porsche 718 RSK	11hr 02:21.8, 14
2nd	118	S1.5	Eberhard Mahle Herbert Linge		Porsche KG	Porsche 550 RS	11hr 22:20.8, 14
3rd	102	GT2.6	Huschke von Hanstein	Antonio Pucci	Porsche KG	Porsche 356A Carrera	11hr 31:44.4, 14
4th	96	GT2.6	Eberhard Mahle	Herbert Linge	Porsche KG	Porsche 356A Carrera	11hr 36:10.0, 14
5th	134	S2.0	Mennato Boffa	Piero Drogo	Centro-Sud	Maserati A6GCS/53	11hr 41:20.0, 14
6th	38	GT1.3		Colin Davis	Scuderia Sant’Ambroeus	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato	12hr 02:30.0, 14
7th	84	S1.1			Scuderia Sant’Ambroeus	Osca S1100	12hr 10:52.3, 14
8th	132	S2.0			Mario Cammarata	Ferrari 500 TRC	12hr 14:45.4, 14
9th	120	GT+2.6			Nissena	Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta	12hr 24:15.0, 14
10th	138	S2.0		Nino Vaccarella	Giuseppe Allotta	Maserati A6 GCS	12hr 35:47.4, 14
11th	72	S1.1			Monte Pellegrino	Osca MT4 1100	12hr 39:40.0
12th	30	GT1.3			Monte Pellegrino	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Spider	12hr 41:31.0, 14
13th	46	GT1.3			Nissena	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce	12hr 46.16.0, 14
14th	8	GT750		Ernesto Prinoth	Janua	Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato	12hr 53:39.0. 14
15th	24	GT1.3			Nissena	Fiat 1200 Boano	13hr 00:27.0, 14
16th	20	GT1.3			Pietro Laureati	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Spider Veloce	162
17th	50	S750			Settecoli	Osca S750	13hr 13:46.1, 14
18th	70	S1.1	Tommy Wisdom	Bernard Cahier	Tommy Wisdom	Austin-Healey Sprite	13hr 22:05.0, 14
19th	60	S750			Montegrappa	Osca S750	13hr 22:05.4, 14
20th	56	S750		Anna Maria Peduzzi	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Osca S750	13hr 39:23.2, 14
21st	28	GT1.3			Paris	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato	13hr 44:11.4, 14
NC	76	S1.1			Clemente Biondetti	Ermini-Fiat 1100	14	Over time limit
NC	6	GT750			Nissena	Fiat 500	14	Over time limit
NC	92	GT2.6			San Rizzo	Fiat 8V Zagato	14	Over time limit
DNF	136	S2.0	Umberto Maglioli	Hans Herrmann	Porsche AG	Porsche 718 RSK		Transmission
DNF	150	S3.0	Jean Behra	Tony Brooks	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 59		Rear axle
DNF	154	S3.0	Dan Gurney	Cliff Allison	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 59		Transmission
DNF	4	GT750			Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	D.B.-Panhard HBR4		did not finish
DNF	26	GT1.3			G.S. Savio	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce		did not finish
DNF	32	GT1.3			Giuseppe Riggero	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato		did not finish
DNF	34	GT1.3			Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	D.B.-Panhard HBR5		did not finish
DNF	36	GT1.3			Camidoglio	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato		did not finish
DNF	40	GT1.3			Racing Club 19	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato		did not finish
DNF	42	GT1.3			Enrico Giaccone	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce		did not finish
DNF	44	GT1.3			Racing Club 19	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Sprint Veloce Zagato		did not finish
DNF	52	S750			Montegrappa	Giaur 750 Sport		did not finish
DNF	58	S750			Monte Pellegrino	Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato		did not finish
DNF	74	S1.1			Monte Pellegrino	Osca MT4 1100		did not finish
DNF	78	S1.1			Monte Pellegrino	Osca MT4 1100		did not finish
DNF	80	S1.1			Falanga	Roar-Fiat 1100 Special		did not finish
DNF	82	S1.1			Settecoli	Osca MT4 1100		did not finish
DNF	90	GT2.6			Giuseppe Bologna	Fiat 8V		did not finish
DNF	94	GT2.6			Pietro Tremini	Fiat 8V		did not finish
DNF	100	GT2.6			Rocco Finocchiaro	Fiat 8V		did not finish
DNF	104	GT2.6			Sorrentino	Lancia Flaminia		did not finish
DNF	114	S1.5		Ludovico Scarfiotti	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Osca MT4 1500		did not finish
DNF	116	S1.5	Christian Goethals		Christian Goethals	Porsche 550 RS		did not finish
DNF	122	GT+2.6			Mediterranea	Ferrari 250 GT		did not finish
DNF	140	S2.0	Gaetano Starrabba		Gaetano Starrabba	Ferrari 500 TRC		did not finish
DNF	142	S2.0	Giulio Cabianca	Giorgio Scarlatti	Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti	Dino 196 S		Out of fuel
DNF	130	S2.0	Jo Bonnier	Wolfgang von Trips	Porsche AG	Porsche 718 RSK	13	did not finish
DNF	152	S3.0	Olivier Gendebien	Phil Hill	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 59	1	Pinion
DNS	2	GT750			Elio Lenza	Fiat-Abarth 750 Zagato		did not start
DNS	10	GT750			Aretusa	Fiat-Abarth 750		did not start
DNS	22	GT1.3			Francesco Gambi	Alfa Romeo Giuletta Spider Veloce		did not start
DNS	54	S750			Spampinato	Fiat-Abarth 750 Sport		did not start
DNS	98	GT2.6			Monte Pellegrino	Lancia Aurelia B24		did not start
DNS	110	S1.5			Henri Perrier / Binachon	Osca MT4 1500		did not start

• Fastest Lap: Jo Bonnier, 43:01.6secs (62.147 mph) ^[5][2][8]

Class Winners[]

^[2]

Standings after the race[]

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[]

Further reading[]

• Ed Heivink. Targa Florio: 1955-1973. Reinhard Klein. ISBN 978-3927458666