1959 World Sportscar Championship

Last updated April 02, 2023

The 1959 World Sportscar Championship was the seventh FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a series for sportscars that ran in many worldwide endurance events. It ran from 21 March 1959 to 5 September 1959, and comprised five races, following the 1000 km Buenos Aires being removed from the calendar, although the race did return in 1960.

Season

Aston Martin won the championship with its DBR1/300 model (similar to the 1957 DBR1 pictured above) 1957AstonMartinDBR1.jpg — Aston Martin won the championship with its DBR1/300 model (similar to the 1957 DBR1 pictured above)

The championship comprised five qualifying rounds; the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa Florio run over 1000 km, the Nürburgring 1000 km, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the RAC Tourist Trophy run over 6 hours.^[1]

At the Sebring 12 Hours in Florida, the Scuderia Ferrari scored a 1–2 with Porsche filling the next three places. Aston Martin sent a single DBR1, as a favour to the organisers, in the hands of Salvadori and Shelby but it retired early in the race. Porsche dominated the Targa Florio ^[2] winning with the little Porsche 718 RSK whilst 2-3-4 places were filled by other Porsche models. Meanwhile, the works Ferraris all retired. Aston Martin missed the event as back in England, David Brown of Aston Martin had initially ruled against a World Championship challenge, on financial grounds. But, Stirling Moss wangled one DBR1/300 works car to win the Nürburgring 1000 km,^[3] with Jack Fairman beating the Hill/Gendebien Ferrari by over 40 seconds with the best placed Porsche in fourth. At Le Mans, the Astons of Roy Salvadori/Carroll Shelby and Maurice Trintignant/Paul Frère finished one-two!.^[4] The works Ferrari Testa Rossas all retired as did the works Porsches leaving privately entered Ferrari 250GTs to complete the minor placings. So David Brown's company simply had to field a full three-car team in what had become the title-deciding race, the RAC Tourist Trophy. Despite setting fire to their race leading car during a schedule refuelling stop, the sister car of Shelby/Fairman/Moss took victory and saw Aston Martin become the first British manufacturer ever to win the FIA World Sportscar Championship.^[5]

Season results

Results

Round	Date	Event	Circuit or Location	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning car	Results
1	March 21	12-Hour Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance for the Amoco Trophy	Sebring International Raceway	Dan Gurney Chuck Daigh Phil Hill Olivier Gendebien	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 59	Results
2	May 24	43° Targa Florio	Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie	Edgar Barth Wolfgang Seidel	Porsche KG	Porsche 718 RSK	Results
3	June 7	ADAC 1000 Kilometre Rennen Nürburgring	Nürburgring	Stirling Moss Jack Fairman	David Brown	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Results
4	June 20–21	24 Heures du Mans	Circuit de la Sarthe	Roy Salvadori Carroll Shelby	David Brown	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Results
5	September 5	News of the World sponsor the 24th R.A.C. Tourist Trophy	Goodwood Circuit	Carroll Shelby Jack Fairman Stirling Moss	David Brown	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Results

Championship

Note:

Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1.^[6]
Manufacturers were awarded points only for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars.^[6]
Only the best 3 results out of the 5 races could be retained by each manufacturer.^[7] Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the table below.

Pos	Manufacturer	SEB	TGA	NÜR	LMS	GWD	Total
1	Aston Martin			8	8	8	24
2^†	Ferrari	8		6	4	(4)	18 (22)
3^†	Porsche	4	8	(3)		6	18 (21)
4	Maserati		2				2
5=	Alfa Romeo		1				1
5=	Lola					1	1

† - Ferrari declared second due to having the same number of wins, one, and second places, one, as Porsche but having two 3rd-place finishes to Porsche's one.

The cars

The following models contributed to the net championship point scores of their respective manufacturers.

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References

↑ www.racingsportscars.com
↑ www.targaflorio.info
↑ Stirling Moss, “Stirling Moss: All My Races" (Haynes Publishing, ISBN 978-1 84425 700 3, 2009)
↑ Carroll Shelby Looks Back at 1959 Le Mans Victory, June 12, 2009, sportscardigest.com
↑ Peter Swinger, “Motor Racing Circuits in England" (Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 978 0 7110 3104 3, 2005)
1 2 Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 260
↑ Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 267
↑ www.classicscars.com Retrieved 6 April 2018

External links

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[1] www.racingsportscars.com

[2] www.targaflorio.info

[Moss-3] Stirling Moss, “Stirling Moss: All My Races" (Haynes Publishing, ISBN 978-1 84425 700 3, 2009)

[4] Carroll Shelby Looks Back at 1959 Le Mans Victory, June 12, 2009, sportscardigest.com

[Swinger-5] Peter Swinger, “Motor Racing Circuits in England" (Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 978 0 7110 3104 3, 2005)

[Higham_260-6] 1 2 Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 260

[Higham_267-7] Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 267

[8] www.classicscars.com Retrieved 6 April 2018

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