Dates: 21-22 June 1958

Number of competitors: 55

Number of retirements: 35

Weather: stormy and rainy

Start given by Nürburgring race director Paul von Guilleaume

 

Importants facts:

The 26th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans boiled down to a three-pronged Anglo-Italian confrontation between Jaguar with five cars (winner of the three preceding editions), Aston Martin with four cars and Ferrari with as many as ten 250 TRs. Add to that five Porsches and it amounted to more than a third of the grid, precisely 24 cars!

 

Brief overview of the race:

The winner in 1949 and 1954, Ferrari clinched its third victory at a very wet edition of the 24 Hours (rain fell for 15 straight hours during the race). The Ferrari driven by Oliver Gendebien and Phil Hill held the lead for 22 hours. The Jaguars had been forced to retire and Aston Martin ended up finishing second at a respectable distance thanks to the Whitehead brothers (#5). The #2 impressed early on, with Stirling Moss proving the fastest sprinter during the Le Mans start. Despite winning, it wasn't all roses for Ferrari: only three of the ten 250 TRs fielded managed to cross the finish line (winner, sixth and seventh). 

 

Key figures and anecdotes:

- Phil Hill became the first American driver to win Le Mans

- His Belgian teammate Olivier Gendebien also won for the first time. After three more victories (1960, 1961 and 1962), he was crowned the first four-time winner at the 24 Hours, holding the win record until 1981

- Thereafter, the duo Hill-Gendebien became the first driver line-up to win Le Mans three times (1958, 1961 and 1962)

- A competitor at the 24 Hours since 1951, Porsche claimed its first overall podium finish with third place for the 718 RSK Spyder driven by Jean Behra and Hans Herrmann

- After clocking the best in-race lap at Le Mans, Mike Hawthorn became the first British F1 world champion in 1958 and the first driver in history to have won the 24 Hours (1955) and the title in Formula 1

- This edition marked Graham Hill's first participation, at the wheel of a Lotus shared with Cliff Allison (retirement). He went on to become the only winner of the famous Triple Crown in motorsport: in chronological order, Formula 1 world champion (1962-1968), winner at the Indianapolis 500 (1966) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1972)

- The 1958 running of the race also marked the first appearance of brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez at the 24 Hours. The older of the two, Pedro (age 18 at the time), took the start after his 16-year-old sibling was deemed too young to participate in the race

 

The winners:

Overall: #14 Ferrari 250 TR driven by Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill

Distance: 4,101.926 km at an average of 170.914 km/h 

Gap: The second place finisher trailed by 161.038 km 

No qualifying: At that time, the starting grid was determined in descending order of engine size

Best in-race lap: Mike Hawthorn at the wheel of the #19 Ferrari 250 TR in 04:08:00 at an average of 195.402 km/h

 

Source: Infos-Course