1954 World Sportscar Championship

The 1954 World Sportscar Championship season was the second season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured a series of six endurance races for sportscars, contested from 24 January to 23 November 1954. The championship was won by Ferrari.

1954 World Sportscar Championship
Previous: 1953 Next: 1955

Season summary
Ferrari won the championship with its Ferrari 375 Plus (pictured), 375 MM and 750 Monza models.

The 1954 World Sports Car Championship was contested over a six race series. With legendary races such as the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana now part of the international race calendar, they were accompanied by the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and the RAC Tourist Trophy. The championship started in January in Argentina with a new race to the calendar, the 1000 km Buenos Aires, but the 24 Hours of Spa was omitted.[1] The 1000 km Nürburgring was originally scheduled for the 29th of August, however once it became clear that the Mercedes 300 SLRs would not be ready in time, the race was cancelled with organisers fearing another poor attendance.[2]

The Championship remained as a competition for manufacturers, and works teams including Scuderia Ferrari, Lancia, Aston Martin and Jaguar lead the way. The majority of the fields were made up of amateur or gentlemen drivers in privately entered cars, often up against professional racing drivers with experience in Formula One.

All races included Sportscar classes defined according to engine displacement.[3] The Millie Miglia also defined classes for Grand Touring and Special Touring cars and the Carrera Panamericana included additional Stock car and Touring car classes.[3] Championship points were however only awarded for outright placings. Ferrari continued to be the dominant force in 1954, winning four of the six races, a result of Enzo Ferrari’s determination to bring prestige to his marque. The other two races were also won by Italian marques, Lancia and O.S.C.A.

Season results
Lancia placed second with its Lancia D24
Jaguar placed third with its Jaguar C-Type and D-Type (pictured) models
O.S.C.A. placed fourth after a win at Sebring with its MT4

Results
Date [4] Round Event Circuit or Location Winning driver Winning team Winning car Results
24/01 1 1000km of Buenos Aires Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz Giuseppe Farina
Umberto Maglioli		 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 MM Results
07/03 2 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International Raceway Bill Lloyd
Stirling Moss		 Briggs Cunningham Osca MT4 1500 Results
01/05 - 02/05 3 Mille Miglia Brescia-Rome-Brescia Alberto Ascari Scuderia Lancia Lancia D24 Results
12/06 - 13/06 4 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe José Froilán González
Maurice Trintignant		 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 375 Plus Results
05/09 5 RAC Tourist Trophy Dundrod Mike Hawthorn
Maurice Trintignant		 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 750 Monza Results
19/11 - 23/11 6 Carrera Panamericana Tuxtla Gutiérrez-Ciudad Juárez Umberto Maglioli Erwin Goldschmidt Ferrari 375 Plus Results

Note: The Tourist Trophy was awarded to the DB of Paul Armagnac and Gerard Laureau, which was the winner of the Dundrod race on handicap. World Championship points were awarded on the overall race results rather than the handicap results.[5]

Championship

Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1.[6] Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car [6] 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 table below.[5]

Pos[7] Manufacturer[7] Rd 1[7] Rd 2[7] Rd 3[7] Rd 4[7] Rd 5[7] Rd 6[7] Total[7]
1 Ferrari 8 (6) 8 8 8 32 (38)
2 Lancia 6 8 6 20
3 Jaguar 3 6 1 10
4 O.S.C.A. 8 8
5 Maserati 1 4 2 7
6 Porsche 1 4 5
7= Cunningham 4 4
7= Austin-Healey 4 4
7= Aston Martin 4 4
10 HWM 3 3
11= Kieft 1 1
11= Gordini 1 1

The cars

The following models contributed to the nett championship pointscores of their respective manufacturers.[8]

References
  1. World Sportscar Championship, www.racingsportscars.com Retrieved on 4 April 2015
  2. Posthumus, Cyril (1961). World Sports Car Championship. p. 56.
  3. János L. Wimpffen, 1954 - Ferrari consolidates, Tine and Two Seats, 1999, pages 14 to 169
  4. 1954 World Sportscar Championship, www.teamdan.com Retrieved on 4 April 2015
  5. Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, pages 260–262
  6. János L. Wimpffen, Rules and Exceptions, Tine and Two Seats, 1999, page 16
  7. 1954 World Sportscar Championship table at www.wspr-racing.com Retrieved on 4 April 2015
  8. 1954 World Sportscar Championship race results, www.classicscars.com Retrieved on 4 April 2015
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