The 1955 1000 km Buenos Aires took place on 23 January, on the Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz, (Buenos Aires, Argentina). It was the second running of the race, and once again, it was the opening round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. For this event, a longer section of the Autopista General Pablo Riccheri route was added, making the circuit 17,136 km (10,648 miles) in length.

Report

Entry

Despite being a World Championship event, international participation was low, as the majority of drivers and cars were from Argentina.

The week prior, seven Argentinians had entered the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix, with defending World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio winning for Mercedes, but suffering burns to his leg. Most of the visiting F1 pilots remained absent from the 1000 km race, but some would stay on for two weeks and enter the 30 January 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix Formula Libre race with their F1 cars. Mercedes did the same, but took the chance to test their new sports car engine. The new Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR sports car chassis was not ready yet, but its enlarged 3 litre straight-8 pump gas engine would be fitted into the single seater Mercedes-Benz W196 Formula 1 cars. The Formula Libre race was won by Fangio ahead of Moss in their Formula Sports hybrids.

Jaguar did not travel to the southern hemisphere, thus the first major sports car race of the year was poorly supported by the works teams. Only Scuderia Ferrari and Equipe Gordini brought works cars from Europe, two each. Anyway, also private team could earn championships point for the brand they had chosen to race.

Ferrari sent a Ferrari 376 S for Maurice Trintignant and José Froilán González, and a 750 Monza for Umberto Maglioli and Clemar Bucci, which both were disqualified in the race. France was represented by a Gordini T24S in the hands of Élie Bayol and Harry Schell, and a T15 for the Argentine pairing of Adolfo Schwelm Cruz and Pedro J. Llano. The remainder of the field were cars from South America.:de:1000-km-Rennen von Buenos Aires 1955

A total of 55 racing cars were registered, all of which arrived for practice and qualifying.

Qualifying

The French Grand Prix racer Trintignant took pole position for Scuderia Ferrari, in the No. 10 Ferrari 118 LM (aka Ferrari 376 S).

Race

The race was held over 58 laps of the 17,136 km (10,648 mile) Autódromo Municipal Avenida Paz, giving a total distance of 993,888 km (617,574 miles). In the race, both factory Ferraris were disqualified for push starting and engine, which did not hurt Ferrari's championships effort as it left the win to the privately entered Ferrari 375 Plus of Enrique Saenz Valiente and José-Maria Ibanez. Leading by nearly five minutes, car number 4 took an impressive victory, winning in a time of 6 hr 35 min 15.4 s, averaging a speed of 150,873 km/h (93,748 mph). In second was another locally prepared Ferrari 375, of Carlos Najurieta and César Rivero. The podium was complete by Equipo Presidente Peron’s Maserati A6GCS of José M. Faraoni and Ricardo Grandio, who were two laps adrift, but did win their class.:de:1000-km-Rennen von Buenos Aires 1955

Official Classification

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos No ClassDriver Entrant Chassis Laps Reason Out 1st 4 S+3.0 Enrique Saenz Valiente José-Maria Ibanez Ferrari 375 Plus 6hr 35:15.4, 58 2nd 8 S3.0 Carlos Najurieta César Rivero Ferrari 375 MM 6hr 40:12.1, 58 3rd 30 S3.0 José M. Faraoni Ricardo Grandio Maserati A6GCS/53 56 4th 34 S1.5 Jaroslav Juhan Jorge Salas Chaves Porsche 550 Spyder 56 5th 14 S3.0 Élie Bayol Harry Schell Equipe Gordini Gordini T24S 54 6th 26 S3.0 Jorge Camano Oscar Camaňo Ferrari 212 Export 54 7th 32 S3.0 Alejandro de Tomaso César Reyes Maserati A6GCS 52 8th 52 Mod. T Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Eduardo Martins Ford V-8 52 9th 18 S3.0 Luis Milán Elpidio Tortone Ferrari 625 TF 51 10th 50 Mod. T Juan-Carlos Garavaglia Manuel Rodríguez Ford V-8 51 11th 66 Mod. T Guillermo G. Airaldi Douglas Marimon Alfa Romeo 1900 49 12th 102 Mod. T Angel de la Rosa Angel Antenine Ford V-8 48 13th 96 Mod. T Hector della Romana Ford V-8 45 14th 48 S1.5 Patricio Badaracco Ernesto Tornquist Cisitalia-Abarth 202 44 15th 92 Mod. T Eugenio Modica Ignacio Espina Ford V-8 43 16th 24 S3.0 Angel Maiocchi Carlos Lostalo Ferrari 225 S Vignale Spyder 42 17th 70 Mod. T Antonio Pereyra A. Cea Ford V-8 42 18th 22 S3.0 Alvaro Piano Miguel Schroeder Ferrari 225 S 42 DNF 12 S+3.0 José M. Millet Gabriel Gabin Jaguar C-Type 41 Fuel tank DNF 40 S3.0 Adolfo Schwelm Cruz Pedro J. Llano Equipe Gordini Gordini T15S 40 Gearbox 19th 90 Mod.T Juan V. Carrica J. Arias Moreno Ford V-8 39 DISQ 20 S3.0 Umberto Maglioli Clemar Bucci Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 750 Monza 33 Push start DISQ 10 S+3.0 Maurice Trintignant José Froilán González Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 376 S 27 Incorrect entry into pits NC 38 S1.5 Curt Delfosse Gordini-Porsche T15 Special 22 DNF 2 S+3.0 Franco Bruno Carlos Bruno Allard-Cadillac J2X 19 Brakes DNF 6 S+3.0 Roberto Bonomi Ernesto Florenico Castro Cranwell Ferrari 375 MM Speciale 7 Fuel system DNF 16 S3.0 Alberto Rodríguez Larreta David Speroni Ferrari 250 MM Pinin Farina Brakes DNF 36 S1.5 Tomas Mayol Juan Gobbi Porsche 356 Super Axle DNF 40 S1.5 Ernesto Tornquist Miguel Nadie Porsche 550 Spyder Accident DNF 42 S1.5 Lucio Bollaert Carlos Stabile Gordini T15S Gearbox DNF 46 S1.5 Jorge B. Saggese Rafaele Sedano Acosta Abarth 207A Spyder Sport Engine DNF 54 Mod. T Ernesto Petrini Domingo Colanero Ford V-8 DNF DNF 56 Mod. T Felix Alberto Peduzzi Eduardo del Molino Chevrolet Bel Air DNF DNF 58 Mod. T Jorge Descote Ford V-8 DNF DNF 60 Mod. T Pablo Birger Ford V-8 DNF DNF 62 Mod. T Esteban Sokol E. Ojea Ford V-8 DNF DNF 64 Mod. T Ernesto Blanco N. Larocca Ford V-8 DNF DNF 68 Mod. T Juan Fernando Piersanti J. Colanero Ford V-8 DNF DNF 74 Mod. T Juan C. Navone D. Teseire Ford V-8 DNF DNF 76 Mod. T Marcelo Aloe Velcher B. Marciulevicus Chevrolet Bel Air DNF DNF 78 Mod. T Elmer J. Oppen Ford V-8 DNF DNF 80 Mod. T Rodolfo de Ălzaga R. Luro Ford V-8 DNF DNF 82 Mod. T José Lorenzetti Ford V-8 DNF DNF 84 Mod. T Enrique D’Ascanio Hugo Vázquez Ford V-8 DNF DNF 86 Mod. T Luis F. González J. N. Soto Ford V-8 DNF DNF 88 Mod. T Plinio Rosetto Ford V-8 DNF DNF 94 Mod. T Raul Alonso Ford V-8 DNF DNF 98 Mod. T Antonio Gomez Ford V-8 DNF DNF 100 S+3.0 “Carming” Carlos Guimarey Maserati-Ford DNF DNF 104 Mod. T Francisco de Ridder Carlo Tomasi Ford V-8 DNF DNF 106 Mod. T Segundo Ale E, Canriero Chevrolet Bel Air DNF DNF 110 Mod. T Elmer J. Oppen Ford V-8 DNF DNF 111 Mod. T Emilio Boretto Ford V-8 DNF DNS 3 S1.5 Ernesto Tornquist Gordini T11S Engine DNS 44 S1.5 Oscar J. González Jorge Malbrand Porsche 550 Spyder DNS 72 Mod.T Tadeo Taddia Sebastián Messino Chevrolet Bel Air

Fastest Lap: José Froilán González, 6:06.1secs (104.704 mph)

Class Winners

Class Winners Sports +3000 4 Ferrari 375 Plus Saenz Valiente / Ibanez Sports 3000 30 Maserati A6GCS/53 Faraoni / Grandio Sports 1500 34 Porsche 550 Spyder Juhan / Salas Chaves Modified Touring 52 Ford V-8 Gálvez / Martins

Standings after the race Pos Championship Points 1 Ferrari 8 2 Maserati 4 3 Porsche 3 4 Gordini 2

Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 4 results out of the 6 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.

References