After the D50's brief debut at the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix, Scuderia Lancia prepared very conscientiously for the new season over the winter with test drives in Monza and Ospedaletti. In 1955, Lancia's race team took part in the Grands Prix of Turin and Pau. Ascari won the race in Italy with ease; in France he was leading by two laps with two laps to go, but had to pit due to a technical fault - Jean Behra in a Maserati 250F won the race, with Ascari finishing fifth. However, neither event counted towards the World Championship, so despite his success, Alberto Ascari was unable to score any points.
During practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, the Mercedes were the favourites. Moss and Fangio lived up to this in the race too - yet all the Mercedes drivers fell victim to technical faults. So, in lap 80, Alberto Ascari unexpectedly found himself in the lead - after the last remaining Mercedes, driven by Stirling Moss, retired. But a driving error by Ascari at the harbour chicane sent his car flying across the track and half a dozen straw bales into the harbour basin. Alberto Ascari survived this potentially fatal accident by boldly leaping from his racing car. None other than the Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis had the stricken Ascari fished out of the sea and his bruises treated aboard his yacht. After almost three hours, the race in Monaco was won, quite unexpectedly, by Maurice Trintignant in a Ferrari 625, ahead of Eugenio Castellotti in a Lancia D50 and Jean Behra in a Maserati 250F.
Instead of being able to enjoy a victory lap in front of the crowd for a win that had already seemed certain, Ascari had to settle for an involuntary dip in the harbour basin. Just a few days later, the sad news of the death of the endearing and talented double world champion Alberto Ascari shook the worldwide motorsport community. He was killed in Monza in a private test drive in a friend's Ferrari.
Exhibition model
