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!..”
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, instead of the 81 in 1958. Of the 59 cars registered, 58 arrived for practice with 52 qualifying for and starting the race.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.
Race
This was meant to be a Ferrari battle, but it was not to be, as all the Ferraris retired due to mechanical problems. The initial mechanical problem of the Jean Behra car was 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 Porsche 718 RSK cars driven by F1 pilots, like Hans Herrmann and Umberto Maglioli, the 1956 Targa Florio winner. The leading Porsche 718 of Jo Bonnier and Wolfgang von Trips was forced to withdraw on the last lap, leaving victory to the supporting 718 RSK driven by lesser known Germans.
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 win in the World Sportscar Championship for Porsche, with the pairing of Edgar 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 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 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 crew that finished second.
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 Ferrari. This was the first time Ferrari had not topped the standings since March 1957. After a 2nd place at the end of the season in which only the best 3 results were counted, Porsche was tied in points with Ferrari.
Official Classification
Class Winners are in Bold text. All cars had to complete the full distance of 14 laps.- Fastest Lap: Jo Bonnier, 43:01.6secs
Standings after the race
- Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.