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. From 1906 onwards, Florio also organised the Targa Florio in the Madonie mountains of Sicily, with the trophy being a shield or plate (targa).
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.
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.Ricorda del circuito di Bologna 1908 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 1925.1927 Coppa Florio The race attracted teams from around Europe as well as the 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeams from England Targa Florio, W F Bradley P82-83 and was an opportunity to see Sir Henry Segrave and Jean Chassagne competing.Rapiditas Vol.5 1922-1923 P.60 The winners were:GP Winners 1894-2007 from forix.comCoppa Florio from targaflorio.info
Past winners
Edition Date Circuit Winner Vehicle Time --10 September 1900Brescia Alberto FranchettiPanhard & Levassor 12 HPn/a --5 September 1904Brescia Vincenzo LanciaFiat 75 HP2*167 km=372.2 km in 3h12mI4 September 1905Brescia Giovanni Battista RaggioItala 112 HP3*167 km=500.7 km in 4h46mII1 September 1907Brescia Ferdinando MinoiaIsotta Fraschini8*60 km=485.7 km in 4h39mIII6 September 1908Bologna Felice NazzaroFiat10*52 km=528.1 km in 4h25mIV31 May 1914Madonie Felice NazzaroNazzaro3*148 km=446.5 km in 8h11mV4 September 1921Brescia Jules GouxBallot 3L519 km in 3h35mVI19 November 1922Madonie André BoillotPeugeot432 km in 7h09mVII27 April 1924Madonie Christian WernerMercedes-Benz TF432 km in 6h32mVIII3 May 1925Madonie André BoillotPeugeot432 km in 6h04mIX25 April 1926Madonie Bartolomeo CostantiniBugatti Type 35T540 km in 7h20mX17 July 1927Saint-Brieuc Robert LalyArièsn/aXI6 May 1928Madonie Albert DivoBugatti Type 35Bn/aXII5 May 1929Madonie Albert DivoBugatti Type 35Cn/a
Winners of revived race World Sportscar Championship status was held by the Targa Florio in 1955 and from 1958 to 1973. It was reduced to a National event in 1974 and discontinued after 1977.
From 1974, the Coppa Florio name 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. 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, but was later cancelled.
The following is a list of winners of the revived race held at Pergusa: Year Winner Vehicle 1974 John Fitzpatrick Porsche Carrera RSR 1975 Arturo Merzario Jochen Mass Alfa Romeo 33TT12 1976 Rolf Stommelen Jochen Mass Porsche 936 1977 Arturo Merzario Alfa Romeo 33SC12 1978 Gimax Giorgio Francia Osella PA6-BMW 1979 Lella Lombardi Enrico Grimaldi Osella PA7-BMW 1980Not held 1981 Emilio de Villota Guy Edwards Lola T600-Ford 1982 — 2019Not held 2020 Frédéric Fatien Jordan Grogor Mathieu Jaminet Robert Renauer Porsche 911 GT3 R
References