WTCC to the street race of Porto

The 11th and 12th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place next week end in Portugal, on the Circuito da Boavista, that winds along the streets of Porto, the country’s second largest city and famous for its homonymous wine.

The non-permanent racetrack, that was partly paved with cobblestones and crossed by tram rails, began to be used for national races back in 1951; in its golden years it hosted twice the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix, in 1958 and 1960 – won by Stirling Moss’ Vanwall and Jack Brabham’s Cooper respectively.

Did you know it? In 1958, after crossing the finish line victorious, Moss stopped on the track to prevent the crowd from pushing Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari after a spin; thus he spared disqualification to his fellow countryman, who was classified second in the race and at the end of the year became World Champion pipping Moss by one point.

Two years later, in the very same corner, Moss spun from 5th, rejoined the race driving against the traffic for a few metres and therefore was disqualified…

The Circuito da Boavista was finally revived in 2005, for the Grande Prémio Historico do Porto, whose second edition will take place on the weekend after the WTCC’s.