In the Sicily mountains

The Porsche 911 Carrera RSR driven by Gijs van Lennep and Herbert Müller at speed in the magnificent scenery of the 1973 Targa Florio, as always held in the mountains of Sicily (picture-above) near the island’s capital of Palermo. The Martini-livered works 911 was well-driven, had a flawless run and took a prestigious victory.

The fastest of the Ferrari 312 PBs qualified in pole position with a lap time of 33:58.500. The #8 car was the fastest of the Porsches, nearly three minutes off the pace but still lined up in fifth overall. It turned out to be a very eventful and tragic race with several big accidents.

A driver and a spectator were killed in separate incidents and a further seven spectators were injured. One of the few leading cars to stay out of trouble was the 911 RSR of Müller and van Lennep (picture-below). After the faster cars were forced to retire, they emerged in the lead to claim a surprise victory. The other two RSRs also survived and finished third and sixth overall.