Description
Following a brief debut of the D50 at the Spanish GP in Barcelona which was the last event of the 1954 season Scuderia Lancia was busy preparing its test drives in Monza and Ospedaletti for the upcoming Formula One season. The Lancia team participated in the 1955 Grands Prix in Turin and Pau. Ascari won the race in Turin Italy whereas in France with only two laps left to go before the finish line a technical problem forced him to make a pit stop and yield the lead to Jean Behra who won the race in a Maserati 250F. Still Ascari finished fifth. Both events however did not contribute points to the world championship so Alberto stayed pointless despite the race successes.
After the qualifying session at Monaco GP the Silver Arrows were the favorites. But the Mercedes pilots would fall victims to technical problems one after another during the race. In lap 80 while Alberto Ascari was leading the way the last Silver Arrow that was still remaining on the track and manned by Stirling Moss was caught in an engine failure. Ascari´s lead however did not last long either. He failed to slow down for the harbor chicane – a driving error that forced him to run over the barriers beside the race track and catapult his D50 over half a dozen hay bales to make a devil-may-dare plunge into the waters of the Monaco harbor. Alberto Ascari survived this potentially fatal crash due to a cool-headed timely release of himself from the sinking car. The Greek shipping mogul Aristoteles Onassis and his yacht crew came to the rescue of Ascari and provided the first aid for his bruises from the crash.
The victory of the Monaco GP went to Maurice Trintignant in a Ferrari 625. Eugenio Castellotti finished second in a Lancia D50 whereas Jean Behra came third in a Maserati 250F.
Instead to enjoy a bath in the crowd because of a nearly safely seemed 1st place Ascari had to take an involuntary bath in the harbor basin.
A few days late
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