1956 World Sportscar Championship

The **1956 World Sportscar Championship** was the fourth annual FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was contested by sportscars over a series of three races races from 29th January to 27th May 1956.

Mercedes, Jaguar, and Ferrari were the manufacturers which contested the championship. Ferrari pulled out of the season after the disastrous 24 Hours of Le Mans as they considered the car too unreliable and unsafe to race following the deaths of two of their drivers in the race.

## Season Report

### **Round 1: 1000km of Buenos Aires**

Jaguar's William Parker took the first pole position of the season but bogged down at the start of the race, allowing Mercedes' Peter Quinn and Thadeaus Brennan through. Parker's start continued to go downhill after he locked up at the hairpin, hitting the side of Brennan's Mercedes, before spinning onto the grass. Parker dropped to the back of the field, whilst Brennan continued with minimal damage.

Joel Ericsson was the fastest driver in the field, first overtaking Brennan for 2nd, before catching and passing Quinn for the lead of the race after a short duel. Once in the lead, he pulled away and went on to win by over 30 seconds over Brennan.

### **Round 2: 24 Hours of Le Mans**

Due to the length of the straights at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Mercedes dominated qualifying and locked out the first two rows of the grid. Peter Quinn had the better start over Thadeaus Brennan and led the race for the first lap before being hit from behind by his teammate and newcomer Andreas Schulz at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.

Nathan Meiri Sr. and Bernard Spencer collided on the Mulsanne Straight on lap 1, sending the Ferrari of Spencer into a flip whilst Meiri hit a telephone pole. Both drivers were killed almost instantly. Several laps later, Earl Davis hit an earth bank before Maison Blanche and flipped his Ferrari car, which travelled upside down for several hundred metres before setting on fire. Davis would be the second Ferrari driver and third driver overall to die in the race, which continued with Brennan leading out front. Late in the race, the three leading Mercedes cars were forced to pit due to slow punctures caused by debris, as well as other car damage. Audley Pottinger inherited the lead but was quickly passed by all three Mercedes cars, with Schulz eventually going on to win the race after a brief battle with Brennan for the lead.

### **Round 3: 169km of Spa-Francorchamps**

Mercedes reserve John Mackintosh took pole in his Mercedes for the non-championship race at Spa. He led from the start, pulling a sizeable gap to Declan Wilson's Mercedes in second before Wilson crashed out of the race. The weather started to close in and by lap five it was raining heaving. The race was eventually red-flagged at the start of lap seven, and subsequently cancelled as a storm caused conditions that were impossible to drive under, according to John Mackintosh.

### **Round 4: Internationales ADAV 1000km Rennen auf dem Nürburgring**

Thick fog and poor visibility threatened to the race but officials eventually allowed it to go ahead. Joel Ericsson was due to start from pole position but a technical fault caused him to miss the race start, gifting pole position to Peter Quinn of Mercedes. Audley Pottinger was span at the first corner and dropped to the back of the pack. Quinn led for around half a lap before making a mistake and pulling over to let the faster Thaddeaus Brennan through. Moments later, Quinn made another mistake and was forced to pit to repair car damage. He let his teammates through before holding up William Parker in the faster Jaguar, costing Parker several seconds and backing him up into other cars.

Brennan pulled away at the front and built a sizeable gap to the rest of the pack. Despite bad starts, both Quinn and Pottinger had recovered and were running in 2nd and 3rd on the last lap of the race, with Pottinger closing fast on the Mercedes driver whose tyres were degrading. With just a few corners until the finish line, Quinn made a mistake, allowing Pottinger to have a run into the final chicane. Quinn defended the position aggressively before Pottinger lost control of his car under braking and hit an Armco barrier head-on, sustaining massive injuries and burns in the crash. He would pass away from his injuries in a nearby hospital.

With Mercedes' 1-2 finish, the team clinched the Championship ahead of Jaguar, despite Jaguar coming into the last race of the season with a points advantage.

## Results and Standings

\*Non-championship event.

 2
 3

Points were awarded to the top six finishers: **8-6-4-3-2-1**.

The best 2 results per make at each race counted. Only the best 2 results out of the 3 races could be retained.