With the decorated Trintignant at the wheel Ferrari took its first works Le Mans win, holding off Jaguar in appalling weather

Maurice Trintignant perhaps is not readily cited as being among motor sport’s greatest drivers, yet not too many can match his record of a Le Mans 24 Hours win in addition to two Monaco Grand Prix triumphs. Even more remarkably his two Principality victories, in 1955 and ’58, came in front and rear-engined cars, and he remained competitive right through until his retirement in the mid 1960s.

And we have found fantastic British Pathé footage of Trintignant’s Le Mans triumph in 1954, which you can watch below. Trintignant, who died on February 13, 2005, drove a Ferrari 375 Plus alongside José Froilán González – who also took Ferrari’s first ever Formula 1 race win in 1951. The pair held off a close at hand pursuit by the previous year’s winners Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton in the Jaguar D-type, and often in terrible conditions as the film shows.

The film also shows that interested spectators included none other than Zsa Zsa Gábor.

Trintignant and González won by a mere 4.09km after 24 hours, and only just failed to beat the record distance for the race set the previous year in perfect weather.

It was Ferrari’s first works Le Mans win, interrupting Jaguar’s run of Le Mans victories from 1953 to ’57.