1958 World Sportscar Championship

1958 World Sportscar Championship season
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The 1958 World Sportscar Championship season was the sixth season of the FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a series for sportscars that ran in many worldwide endurance events. It ran from 26 January 1958 to 13 September 1958, and comprised six races.

Season

Ferrari 250 TR – similar to the car driven to victory by Collins/Hill at Sebring.

After major accidents at the 1955 Les 24 Heures du Mans and 1957 Mille Miglia, the sport’s governing body, F.I.A. and its Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) dictated several technical changes to the 1958 Sports Car rule book, under teams completing now see their cars’ engines limited to three litres.^[1][2][3]

This allowed Scuderia Ferrari to dominate the season, as Maserati withdrew from motor racing, leaving Aston Martin and Porsche as the main opposition, but as the previous seasons, the majority of the fields were made up of amateur or gentlemen drivers, often up against professional racing drivers with experience in Formula One. Sometimes, even the Drivers World Champion joined in.

Season results

Results

Date	Round	Event	Circuit or Location	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning car	Results
26/01	Rd. 1	1000km of Buenos Aires	Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz	Peter Collins Phil Hill	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Results
22/03	Rd. 2	12-Hour Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance for The Amoco Trophy	Sebring International Raceway	Phil Hill Peter Collins	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Results
11/05	Rd. 3	Targa Florio	Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie	Luigi Musso Olivier Gendebien	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Results
01/06	Rd.4	Internationales ADAC 1000 Kilometre Rennen Nürburgring	Nürburgring	Stirling Moss Jack Brabham	David Brown, Aston Martin Ltd.	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Results
21-22/06	Rd.5	24 Heures du Mans	Circuit de la Sarthe	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 TR 58	Results
13/09	Rd.6	RAC Tourist Trophy	Goodwood Circuit	Stirling Moss Tony Brooks	David Brown Ltd.	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Results

Championship

Porsche placed second with the 718 RSK (pictured) and the 550A RS

Aston Martin placed third with the DBR1/300 (pictured) and the DB3S

Lotus placed fourth with its Lotus Eleven.

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, excepting the RAC Tourist Trophy, for which points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 for the first 4 positions.
• Manufacturers were awarded points only for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars.
• Only the best 4 results out of the 6 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.

^[4]

Pos	Manufacturer	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Total
1 [5]	Ferrari [5]	8	8	8	(6)	8		32 (38)
2 [5]	Porsche [5]	4	4	6	(1)	4	(1)	18 (20)
3 [5]	Aston Martin [5]				8	6	4	18
4 [5]	Lotus [5]		3					3
5 [5]	O.S.C.A. [5]			2				2

The cars

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

• Ferrari 250 TR 58
• Porsche 718 RSK & Porsche 550A RS
• Aston Martin DBR1/300 & Aston Martin DB3S
• Lotus Eleven
• Osca S1500

References

1. http://www.cavallion.com/images/samples/174-BA%20Race.pdf
2. http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/wsc.html
3. http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z11009/Maserati-450-S.aspx
4. Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 266
5. 1974 FIA Yearbook, Grey Section, Previous FIA Championship Winners, page 122

External links

• 1958 World Sportscar Championship race results, www.classicscars.com
• 1958 World Sportscar Championship points table, www.classicscars.com