1959 World Sportscar Championship


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.
The championship was won by Aston Martin.

Season

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.
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 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, 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!. 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.

Season results

Results

DateRoundEventCircuit or LocationWinning driverWinning teamWinning carResults
1March 3 12-Hour Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance for the Amoco TrophySebring International Raceway Dan Gurney
Chuck Daigh
Phil Hill
Olivier Gendebien
Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 250 TR 59Results
2May 24 43° Targa FlorioCircuito Piccolo delle Madonie Edgar Barth
Wolfgang Seidel
Porsche KG Porsche 718 RSKResults
3June 7 ADAC 1000 Kilometre Rennen NürburgringNürburgring Stirling Moss
Jack Fairman
David Brown Aston Martin DBR1/300Results
4June 20-21 24 Heures du MansCircuit de la Sarthe Roy Salvadori
Carroll Shelby
David Brown Aston Martin DBR1/300Results
5September 9 News of the World sponsor the 24th R.A.C. Tourist TrophyGoodwood Circuit Carroll Shelby
Jack Fairman
Stirling Moss
David Brown Aston Martin DBR1/300Results

Championship

Note:
PosManufacturerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1 Aston Martin88824
2 Ferrari86418
3 Porsche48618
4 Maserati22
5= Alfa Romeo11
5= Lola11

† - 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.