1956 World Sportscar Championship season

The 1956 World Sportscar Championship season was the fourth season of the FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a series for sportscars that ran in many worldwide endurance events. It ran from 29 January 1956 to 12 August 1956, and comprised five races.

Following the major incident at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans that killed 80 spectators, defending constructor's champion Mercedes-Benz officially pulled out of motorsports and thus did not return to the sport.

Due to the fallout of the accident at Le Mans, the race was not included as part of the schedule until safety had been brought up to a higher standard. The Targa Florio was also cancelled due to safety concerns.

This led to the shortest season in World Sportscar Championship history, as well as one of the fewest amount of factory-backed competitors for many years.

The 1956 World Sports Car Championship was contested just five races. While much of the hullabaloo surrounding the tragedy at Le Mans had subsided by January 1956, those in the international racing community were still contending with the fallout. The 24 Heures du Mans had been removed from the series, but would return in 1957 following track improvements. With legendary races such as the Targa Florio and the RAC Tourist Trophy also dropped from the calendar amid safety concerns. The Targa Florio like Le Mans, would run as a non-championship. As for the RAC Tourist Trophy, it would never return to Dundrod. Returning to the championship was the 1000 km Nürburgring and a new race, the Sveriges Grand Prix.

The Championship was remained for manufacturers, and works teams such as Scuderia Ferrari, Officine Alfieri Maserati, Aston Martin and Jaguar Cars leading the way, but as the previous seasons, the majority of the fields were made up of amateur or gentlemen drivers, often up against professional racing drivers with experience in Formula One. Sometimes, even the Drivers World Champion joined in.

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