Racing
Initially Mike Hawthorn was assigned to drive the Ferrari 412 MI #12 for the 1958 edition of the Race of Two Worlds. But when he felt unwell, his teammate Luigi Musso had to run the race. Hawthorn and Phil Hill drove the car later, as relief drivers. Qualifying began late on Friday when the track had dried up. Luigi Musso recorded the fastest time of all the European entries, with a 55.3 second lap in the 412 MI. He was only 0.1 seconds slower than Fangio in the Kuzma-Offy racer. But since the qualifying was determined by an average speed of three laps, and Musso was able to improve on his previous performance and recorded an average speed of 280.8 km/h to earn pole position for the race.[5][2]
Heat one began with a rolling start of eighteen cars, as Fangio withdrew early with a cracked piston. Musso traded off the lead position with Eddie Sachs, with Jimmy Bryan also taking second place. As Jim Rathmann took the lead from the Sachs, the latter retired with a broken connecting rod. This allowed Musso to jump to a second place, but after a methanol fumes inhalation, he dropped back a couple of places and had to be relieved by Hawthorn on lap 27. Hawthorn gave the car back to Musso on the last lap of the first heat and Musso had secured sixth place and 60 laps.[7][8]
During heat two of the race, Musso was once again among the top drivers. After only nineteen laps he had to be replaced by Phil Hill whose Ferrari 326 MI #14 had retired with a broken magneto in the first heat. Hill drove the car till the end of the heat, managed to secure another 60 laps but dropped to ninth place.[9][10]
Heat three was started by Mike Hawthorn in the 412 MI, in place of Luigi Musso. After 24 laps Hawthorn succumbed to methanol fumes as Musso in heat one and had to be relieved by Phil Hill. Hill brought the team up to the third place. He gave the car back to Hawthorn, who secured yet another 60 laps and finished the race for third overall for Ferrari.[11][5]
Because of the very high speeds and safety issues, the Race of Two Worlds for the 1959 season was cancelled and had never returned. Ferrari, unlike Maserati, did not pursue this form of racing and did not participate in the 1959 Indianapolis 500 race.[3]
