Coppa Florio

The Coppa Florio (or Florio Cup) was a motorsport race for automobiles first held in Italy in 1900. It was renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50,000 Lira prize money and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be awarded to the car maker who gained the most wins in the first seven races, beginning with the race held in 1905. In the event, the first seven races were all won by different manufacturers, but Peugeot won the eighth race in 1925 and thus secured the cup with its second win. However, the competition for the cup continued after Lucien Rosengart, then a director of Peugeot, offered to make it available again.

1907 poster showing the Coppa Florio on 1 September and Coppa di Velocità on 2 September.

The Brescia race ran along the route Brescia-Cremona-Mantua-Brescia. In 1908, the race used the Circuito di Bologna: Bologna-Castelfranco Emilia-Sant'Agata Bolognese-San Giovanni in Persiceto-Bologna.[1] After 1914, most of the Coppa Florio races were co-organized with the Targa Florio at the Circuito delle Madonie circuit outside Palermo, Sicily, running four or five laps, 108 km each. Only in 1927 did the race move to Saint-Brieuc, in honour of Peugeot's second win in 1925.[2][3] The race attracted teams from around Europe as well as the 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeams from England [4] and was an opportunity to see Sir Henry Segrave and Jean Chassagne competing.[5] The winners were:[6][7][8]

From 1974, the Coppa Florio was revived as a sports car race held at the Autodromo di Pergusa in Sicily. The race counted towards the World Sportscar Championship most years from 1975, last being held in 1981. In 2020, the Coppa Florio was again revived at Pergusa, being the fifth round of the 2020 24H GT and TCE Series as the Coppa Florio 12 Hours of Sicily.[9][10] The race was again confirmed as part of the 24H Series calendar, of 2021, being the seventh round of 8 events scheduled for the 2 and 3 of October,[11] but was later cancelled.[12]

Past winners

Edition Date Circuit Winner Vehicle Time
-- 10 September 1900 Brescia Italy Alberto Franchetti[13] Panhard & Levassor 12 HP n/a
-- 5 September 1904 Brescia Italy Vincenzo Lancia Fiat 75 HP 2*167 km=372.2 km in 3h12m
I 4 September 1905 Brescia Italy Giovanni Battista Raggio Itala 112 HP 3*167 km=500.7 km in 4h46m
II 1 September 1907 Brescia Italy Ferdinando Minoia Isotta Fraschini 8*60 km=485.7 km in 4h39m
III 6 September 1908 Bologna Italy Felice Nazzaro Fiat 10*52 km=528.1 km in 4h25m[1]
IV 31 May 1914 Madonie Italy Felice Nazzaro Nazzaro 3*148 km=446.5 km in 8h11m
V 4 September 1921 Brescia France Jules Goux Ballot 3L 519 km in 3h35m
VI 19 November 1922 Madonie France André Boillot Peugeot 432 km in 7h09m
VII 27 April 1924 Madonie Germany Christian Werner Mercedes-Benz TF 432 km in 6h32m
VIII 3 May 1925 Madonie France André Boillot Peugeot 540 km in 7h32m
IX 25 April 1926 Madonie Italy Bartolomeo Costantini Bugatti Type 35 T 540 km in 7h20m
X 17 July 1927 Saint-Brieuc France Robert Laly Ariès n/a
XI 6 May 1928 Madonie France Albert Divo Bugatti Type 35 B n/a
XII 5 May 1929 Madonie France Albert Divo Bugatti Type 35 C n/a

Winners of revived race

The following is a list of winners of the revived race held at Pergusa:[10]

Year Winner Vehicle
1974 United Kingdom John Fitzpatrick Porsche Carrera RSR
1975 Italy Arturo Merzario
Germany Jochen Mass
Alfa Romeo 33TT12
1976 Germany Rolf Stommelen
Germany Jochen Mass
Porsche 936
1977 Italy Arturo Merzario Alfa Romeo 33SC12
1978 Italy Gimax
Italy Giorgio Francia
Osella PA6-BMW
1979 Italy Lella Lombardi
Italy Enrico Grimaldi
Osella PA7-BMW
1980 Not held
1981 Spain Emilio de Villota
United Kingdom Guy Edwards
Lola T600-Ford
1982

2019
Not held
2020 Ivory Coast Frédéric Fatien
South Africa Jordan Grogor
France Mathieu Jaminet
Germany Robert Renauer
Porsche 911 GT3 R

References

  1. Ricorda del circuito di Bologna 1908 Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Coppa Florio 1927 discussion
  3. 1927 Coppa Florio
  4. Targa Florio, W F Bradley P82-83
  5. Rapiditas Vol.5 1922-1923 P.60
  6. GP Winners 1894-2007 from forix.com
  7. Coppa Florio from targaflorio.info
  8. Grand Prix winners 1895 - 1949
  9. "CREVENTIC to revive the Coppa Florio at the Autodromo di Pergusa". CALENDAR 2020. 24hseries.com. Creventic. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  10. Goodwin, Graham. "Creventic Revives Historic Coppa Florio". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  11. "Single Championship for 2021; Provisional Calendar Released". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  12. "THE HUNGARORING IS BACK ON THE 24H SERIES CALENDAR". 24hseries.com. Creventic. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  13. "GRAND PRIX WINNERS 1895-1949". kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
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