At the end of the 1954 season Jorge Daponte would decide to sell his Maserati A6GCM Interim chassis to a man from just across the Rio de la Plata in South America. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Alberto Uria would get his opportunity to take part in the Formula One World Championship at the Argentine Grand Prix in 1955.
Alberto Uria would purchase a Maserati A6GCM from Jorge Daponte during the summer months (in the southern hemisphere) between the 1954 and 1955 seasons. Though it was an A6GCM it was an Interim chassis meaning it had been updated with the same 2.5-liter inline 6-cylinder engine that was used in the 250F. So while the car was not an all out 250F it still had the same kind of power at its disposal.
Unfortunately, this would matter little as Uria’s first World Championship experience would end with a retirement after 22 laps because of fuel issues. Problems were abound throughout the 1955 edition of the Argentine Grand Prix. The incredible heat would cause many fuel and mechanical problems and Uria just happened to be one of those that suffered.
More difficulties would come Uria’s way at a Formula Libre race also held in Buenos Aires only a couple of weeks later. Partnering with fellow Uruguayan Oscar Gonzalez, Uria would only manage an aggregate time good enough for 11th place in the final classification.
This would be the final time Uria would be heard from, at least in major motor racing. Undoubtedly in his native Uruguay and around South America he would continue to keep racing, but, he would not take part in another round of the World Championship throughout the rest of the 1955 season.
The end of the 1955 season would see a great deal of shake-up within the World Championship. Mercedes-Benz would be no longer in Formula One, or motor racing for that matter. Juan Manuel Fangio would move on to Ferrari. Lancia would no longer be in the picture and Ferrari would come to own the Lancia D50.
In Uria’s case, not much would change. As the short offseason approached, he still had possession of the A6GCM Inter and would be looking forward to his next opportunity to take part in a World Championship event when it arrived back in Argentina in very early 1956.
There would be a bit of a question mark surrounding the race and other things following the events in Argentina in the early fall of 1955. President Peron would be deposed in late-September of 1955 and a period of unrest and uncertainty would fall upon the country. This threatened the first round of the World Championship as a number of projects in which the Peron’s supported would be brought to a halt as a result of the removal of the president from power. This would be troubling to many throughout the region and would be bothersome to Juan Manuel Fangio who had made his way to Europe as a result of the support given by the Peron government.
Interestingly, Uria would have to be concerned with events in Argentina, one of the nations in which Uruguay fought against to gain its independence during the early 19th century. But while Argentina was embroiled in its difficulties, Uruguayans were facing problems of their own with the standard of living taking a severe decline and the guerilla movement known as the Tupamaros on the rise. Still, even with all of the tenseness going on in the background all around that particular region of South America, Uria and Formula One would look toward the first round of the 1956 Formula One World Championship.
In spite of all the problems around the region, the first round of the Formula One World Championship would remain scheduled for the 22nd of January. The 10th Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina would continue to take place at the renamed Buenos Aires, 2.42 mile circuit. And, instead of a certain number of laps or distance to be covered, the first round would be a timed event. Timed at 3 hours, a total distance of more than 235 miles was expected to be covered.
Alberto Uria would enter his aged Maserati A6GCM in the Argentine Grand Prix and would list Oscar Gonzalez as the car’s other possible driver. The two Uruguayans were obviously going to share the drive and the experience of taking part in a World Championship grand prix.
Although the country was going through quite a bit of change with Peron being deposed, the circuit, which had been named after the date of his candidacy for his first term, Autodromo 17 de Octubre remained unchanged. The circuit remained 2.42 miles in length and still featured the fast sweeping left-hander that led onto the start/finish straight. Now called Autodromo Juan y Oscar Galvez, the circuit welcomed no less than six factory Maserati entries and five for Scuderia Ferrari. With only a handful of other privateer teams in the entry list, Uria and Gonzalez would find themselves up against some mighty teams.
Juan Manuel Fangio had made the switch to Scuderia Ferrari for the 1956 season and would have the opportunity to take to the wheel of the Lancia D50. Updated and revised by Ferrari, the Lancia-Ferraris were certainly powerful and fast. As a result, Fangio would easily set the fastest lap time in practice. His time of 1:42.5 would be over two seconds faster than fellow teammate Eugenio Castellotti. Luigi Musso would be mere hundredths of a second off of Castellotti’s pace and would take 3rd place in yet another Lanica-Ferrari. Jean Behra would lead a string of five-straight Maseratis and would garner the 4th, and final, front row starting position.
In practice, Uria would have little notion as to his pace compared to his fellow competitors as he would fail to set a time. As a result, Uria would start the race form the fourth row of the grid in 13th spot overall. Having posted no time, Uria would start dead-last.
The day of the race would see the temperatures a little more sensible than the previous year. The skies would be rather dark but the circuit would remain dry. This meant the pace of the race could be expected to be quite quick even with the three-hour timed race distance. The cars would be rolled out onto the grid and the drivers would assume their positions in the cockpit of their cars.
At the start of the race, Fangio would get away terribly from the grid. Jose Froilan Gonzalez, who was now a mere part time driver, would take advantage of his drive with the factory Maserati team and would shoot up toward the front of the field with Castellotti and Musso right there. Despite starting from dead-last on the grid Uria would make a great start and would actually move up a few places over the course of the first lap.
At the end of the first lap it would be Argentinean Gonzalez leading the way with Musso running in 2nd place and Carlos Menditeguy running a surprising 3rd. Fangio was all the way down in 5th.
Gonzalez’s early glory would quickly begin to fade while Menditeguy would be just beginning to warm up. Carlos would take the lead of the race on the 4th lap and would hold station at the front of the field for more than 30 laps. Meanwhile, at the back of the field, Uria’s good start would be nullified by Gendebien and Piotti. Still, Uria wouldn’t give up easily and he and Piotti would be involved in a battle for the tail-end of the field throughout the first dozen laps of the race.
Surprisingly, Uria would be joined by Fangio who had problems with his Ferrari. Menditeguy remained in the lead of the race with Stirling Moss running solidly in 2nd place. Gonzalez would continue to slip down the running order and it would be Castellotti that would take over 3rd place.
