Out of fuel

The 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans were held at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 10 and 11 June 1961. Ferrari and Maserati were the main contenders, with Aston Martin considered as an outsider.

Once again Ferrari dominated the entry list with 11 cars spread across both Sport and GT divisions. Three works cars were entered in the Sports category for endurance aces: Phil Hill-Olivier Gendebien, Willy Mairesse-Mike Parkes and for Wolfgang von Trips-Richie Ginther.

Picture above: Wolfgang von Trip, watches on, and seems not to worry about the danger of cars passing by at full speed, as he is forced to retire his Ferrari 246SP at the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Maseratis were fast but fragile, and the Aston Martins, though reliable, couldn’t match the Italian cars’ pace. The Ferrari works team thus scored a prestigious 1-2, with Belgian Olivier Gendebien and American Phil Hill in their 250 TRI/61 winning from the sister car of Mike Parkes and Willy Mairesse (picture below), who finished three laps behind.