The 53rd Targa Florio took place on 4 May 1969, on the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, Sicily (Italy).[1]

The winning Porsche 908/02 #266. Porsche Museum, Stuttgart

Race

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Claudio Maglioli with the Lancia Fulvia HF F&M Special Spider. The newspaper sucked in front of the radiator eventually caused the engine to overheat and an early retirement during lap 4[2]

For this event, Porsche deployed an unparalleled number of cars among the factory-backed ones, six new 908/02 and a special 911R; several others were entrusted to privateers, mainly 911 and older prototype-class cars such as the 910 and 907.[1]
With Ferrari without suitable cars even for their most loyal teams (such as Scuderia Filipinetti, which was forced to use a cumbersome and outdated Lola T70), the only brand that could challenge Porsche was Alfa Romeo which deployed five Tipo 33/2 (including the one with enlarged 2.5L engine already driven by Nino Vaccarella in the 1968 event).[1]

The event resulted in a one-sided race for the Porsche 908/02 which took first to fourth overall places, followed by an Alfa Romeo, and then by two 907. The local hero Vaccarella, teamed with Andrea de Adamich, had to retire during lap 6 for engine failure.[1]

Official results

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Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Laps
1 P
3.0
266  Porsche System Engineering   Gerhard Mitter
  Udo Schütz
Porsche 908/02 10
2 P
3.0
270   Porsche System Engineering   Vic Elford
  Umberto Maglioli
Porsche 908/02 10
3 P
3.0
274   Porsche System Engineering   Hans Herrmann
  Rolf Stommelen
Porsche 908/02 10
4 P
3.0
272   Porsche System Engineering   Willi Kauhsen
  Karl Freiherr von Wendt
Porsche 908/02 10

[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Valerio, Giuseppe (2017). Cento volte Targa Florio (in Italian). Faenza: C&C Srl. ISBN 888662293-7. pp. 62-3
  2. ^ Coppini, Mauro (1976). "Coupé per tutte le età". Autosprint (in Italian). No. 27. pp. 54–5.


World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
1000 km Monza
1969 season Next race:
1000 km Spa