In modern endurance racing, Ferrari is synonymous with success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but 70 years ago, a defining run of victories began at another epic French test of stamina, of which the Le Mans circuit was just one element: the 1956 Tour de France Automobile.

A 6,020-kilometre, six-day test of both car and driver, it combined controlled average speeds over public roads with flat-out stints taking in six circuits, two hill climbs and a single acceleration test.

This was not the first Ferrari win on the multi-disciplinary event – Alfred Barraquet took victory in a 212 Export on the first post-war Tour de France in 1951 – but when Alfonso de Portago won in 1956 driving a 250 GT Berlinetta, he set the stage for a near decade-long run of success that would remain unchallenged in the event’s history. Even now, the 250 GT Berlinetta continues to be informally suffixed ‘Tour de France’.

Derived from the 250 Europa GT as introduced on the Tipo 508 chassis in 1954, the 250 GT Berlinetta debuted in 1956 and formalised the Ferrari gran turismo template that the 12Cilindri continues to this day. Designed by Pininfarina and bodied in aluminium by Scaglietti, the 250 GT combined an elegant two-seat berlinetta form with the famed Colombo V12 – a 3.0-litre, single-cam-per-bank unit that was lighter than rival six-cylinder engines, produced around 260 bhp, and lent its 250cc-per-cylinder capacity to the model family’s name. A GT racer through and through, the new 250 model was as at home on European race circuits as it was soaking up the miles on extended road trips. The Tour de France was the perfect opportunity to underline all that.

Mercedes took early control of the race, setting the pace on the opening Mont Ventoux hill climb and reinforcing its advantage at the Comminges circuit test and Peyresourde hill climb. De Portago was the leading Ferrari, if some way back in fifth.

Appropriately, it was at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, where Ferrari’s challenge began to gather momentum, and continued through the night races at Rouen and Reims, where de Portago emerged as a serious contender – despite a mistake in the acceleration test.

With only two overnight stops at Le Mans and Vichy, crews pressed on almost continuously, sharing driving duties on road sections to snatch brief periods of rest. Most punishing of all were the Alpine night stages between Grenoble and Briançon, where 26 crews retired in a single stretch – the then leader and Mercedes driver Pollet among them.

By the time the remaining entrants reached the final circuit test at Montlhéry, the field had been decimated from 103 to just 37 participants. De Portago needed only to maintain his margin over Moss to secure victory, and he did just that.

It had not been plain sailing – the 250 GT’s battle-scarred front wing and crumpled headlamp surround told their own story – but when the pair arrived in Paris ahead of Moss in second and Gendebien’s Ferrari 250 Europa GT in third, it marked the start of a new era of Ferrari dominance. Tragically, it would be de Portago’s final Tour de France victory. The following May, he would be killed in the Mille Miglia, along with Nelson and nine spectators, in an accident so severe it would ultimately lead to the demise of the race itself.

However, Ferrari’s success with the 250 GT Berlinetta continued to build on the young aristocrat’s legacy with consecutive Tour de France victories through to 1959, before the short-wheelbase 250 GT and subsequent 250 GTO extended the winning streak through to 1964.

But it all began with chassis 0557 GT, Alfonso de Portago and Ed Nelson back in ’56.