STORY OF THE DAY: A Purpose-Built Ferrari Reaches Third at Le Mans

Olivier Gendebien and Maurice Trintignant finished third overall in the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans with the number 12 Ferrari 625 LM Touring. They completed 293 laps, behind the winning Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type and the Aston Martin DB3S of Stirling Moss and Peter Collins. The result made their car the only works Ferrari to reach the finish.

Ferrari had adapted to a new 2.5-litre prototype limit by creating the 625 LM specifically for this race. Two sister cars were eliminated, leaving Gendebien and Trintignant to preserve the remaining entry through the night. Their controlled progress could not match the leaders’ distance, but survival secured a podium from a programme assembled under restrictive regulations.

The 625 LM used a tubular chassis and a front-mounted 2.5-litre Lampredi inline-four, housed beneath lightweight open bodywork by Touring. The compact engine offered strong torque but less maximum power than the three-litre opposition. Its design represented a practical response to the 1956 Le Mans rules rather than a model intended for a broad racing campaign.

Gendebien was Belgian and emerging as a specialist in long-distance racing, combining speed with exceptional mechanical restraint. Trintignant was French, an experienced Grand Prix driver and the winner of Le Mans for Ferrari in 1954. Their balanced partnership mattered because it transformed Ferrari’s only surviving works entry into a podium despite a clear performance disadvantage.