1959 World Sportscar Championship season

The 1959 World Sportscar Championship season was the seventh season of the 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 still comprised five qualifying rounds, but what rounds they were; the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa Florio, the Nürburgring 1000 km, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the RAC Tourist Trophy.

In Florida, the Scuderia Ferrari won at Sebring, while the little Porsche 718 RSK dominated the Targa Florio. 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. At Le Mans, the Astons of Roy Salvadori/Carroll Shelby and Maurice Trintignant/Paul Frère finished one-two! 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, which 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 even to win the FIA World Sportscar Championship.

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