The 1954 inaugural edition used a 9.5 km circuit that combined sections of the Avenida General Paz with the infield of the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, a permanent facility built in the centre of Buenos Aires to host the Argentine Grand Prix from 1953. In 1955 the route was extended using the Autopista General Pablo Riccheri to create a 17.1 km layout before reverting to the original length for 1956. The 1957 event moved to the separate Costanera circuit, a street layout of 10.219 km with thirteen turns. From 1958 the event returned to the Autódromo. A full rebuild of the Autódromo in 1968 produced a 6.1 km permanent configuration that eliminated the use of public highways; a slightly shortened 6.0 km version of that layout hosted the final WSC edition in 1972.
The Buenos Aires round joined the WSC calendar following the success of the 1953 Argentine Grand Prix. The 1954 edition was only the second 1,000 km race in WSC history, after the 1000 km Nürburgring of the previous year.
The 1954 race was won by Giuseppe Farina and Umberto Maglioli for Scuderia Ferrari in a Ferrari 375 MM. The 1955 edition went to Enrique Saenz Valiente and José María Ibáñez in a Ferrari 375 Plus. The sole non-Ferrari winner of the decade was 1956, when Stirling Moss and Argentine driver Carlos Menditeguy won for Officine Alfieri Maserati in a Maserati 300S. Ferrari returned to victory in 1957 at the Costanera circuit, with Masten Gregory, Eugenio Castellotti, and Luigi Musso sharing a Ferrari 290 MM for Scuderia Temple Buell. Peter Collins and Phil Hill won for Scuderia Ferrari in a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa in 1958. No race was held in 1959.
Phil Hill and Cliff Allison won for Ferrari in 1960, Hill taking his second victory in the event with a Ferrari 250 TR59/60. Phil Hill is the only driver to have won the race more than once.
The event did not run from 1961 to 1969. A non-championship exhibition round was held in 1970 and won by Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo for Equipe Matra in a Matra-Simca MS630/650. World Championship status was restored in 1971, when Jo Siffert and Derek Bell won for J.W. Automotive in a Porsche 917K. The final WSC edition in 1972 was taken by Ronnie Peterson and Tim Schenken for Scuderia Ferrari in a Ferrari 312 PB — a final Ferrari victory that bookended the WSC era of the event. The series dropped the event after 1972 as part of a cost-reduction exercise that cut fly-away rounds from the calendar.
Of the nine races held under World Sportscar Championship status, Ferrari won seven. The five victories in the 1950s alone made Buenos Aires one of the most Ferrari-aligned events on the entire WSC calendar. The Scuderia deployed different machinery across successive visits — the 375 MM, 375 Plus, 290 MM, 250 Testa Rossa, 250 TR59/60, and 312 PB spanning the event's history — reflecting both the evolution of Ferrari's sports car programme and the longevity of the race's place on the international calendar.
The race was revived in 2017 as one of the Carreras Especiales held within the Turismo Carretera category to mark the 80th anniversary of that Argentine racing series. The 2017 edition was won by Juan Manuel Silva and Juan Tomás Catalán Magni in a Ford Falcon TC for CM Motorsport. The 2018 race was won by Agustín Canapino, Federico Alonso, and Martín Ponte in a Chevrolet Coupé SS for Jet Racing. No further editions have been held since 2018.
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