The aftermath of the 1955 Le Mans disaster continued to reshape the championship's structure. Mercedes-Benz had officially withdrawn from all motorsport at the end of 1955, leaving a gap at the front of the field that no single team could immediately fill with comparable resources. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, having introduced engine capacity restrictions to 2.5 litres for prototypes as a safety measure in response to the disaster, lost its championship status for 1956 — a significant absence from the calendar. Several other originally scheduled rounds were also lost, with the RAC Tourist Trophy and Carrera Panamericana both dropped due to ongoing safety concerns following the 1955 fatalities at Dundrod and the broader fallout from Le Mans.
The regulations required at least five qualifying events for a valid championship. With only four rounds secured after multiple cancellations, the Sveriges Grand Prix in Sweden — where Mercedes had won in 1955 — was elevated to championship status to meet the minimum.
The five rounds were the 1000 km Buenos Aires, 12 Hours of Sebring, Mille Miglia, 1000 km Nürburgring, and the Sveriges Grand Prix. The Nürburgring round returned for the first time since 1953, having been cancelled in 1954 and 1955, with the 1956 edition finally held successfully. Points were awarded on the standard 8-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six finishers, with only each manufacturer's best finishing car scoring per race, and only the best three results from five rounds counting toward the title — a tighter structure reflecting the shortened calendar.
Ferrari fielded the 860 Monza, with its four-cylinder engine, and the new V12-powered 290 MM. Both shared the same chassis built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti; the 290 MM made its debut at the Mille Miglia and immediately showed its potency. Maserati mounted the most serious factory challenge, hiring Stirling Moss for the full season and preparing the 300S for all rounds. Jaguar continued with the D-type, and Aston Martin entered the DB3S. Porsche fielded the 550 Spyder and 550 RS in the smaller-capacity classes.
At the 1000 km Buenos Aires, Maserati took a surprise victory when Stirling Moss and local hero Carlos Menditéguy won after the large-displacement Ferraris all suffered mechanical failures. At Sebring and the Mille Miglia, Maserati was on pace but ultimately unable to beat Ferrari. Eugenio Castellotti won the Mille Miglia in the new 290 MM's debut.
At the Nürburgring, Moss and Jean Behra delivered Maserati's second win of the season, taking over a second car and driving it to victory. Heading into the Swedish finale, Maserati brought five cars and needed the result to overturn Ferrari's points advantage. However, all five Maseratis retired, leaving Ferrari to take all five top positions and clinch the title by default. Phil Hill and Maurice Trintignant won the Swedish race for Ferrari in the 290 MM.
Ferrari won the 1956 World Sportscar Championship manufacturers' title with three race victories, ahead of Maserati. It was Ferrari's third championship in four seasons, a remarkable period of dominance in sports car racing matched only by their simultaneous success in Formula One.
The 1956 season illustrated how severely the Le Mans disaster had disrupted the competitive structure of the championship. The loss of Mercedes-Benz, the exclusion of Le Mans from the calendar, and the withdrawal of multiple scheduled rounds reduced the championship to its shortest format outside 1956 itself. Ferrari's dominance was partly a function of Maserati's catastrophic reliability failures at decisive moments. The season also marked an important phase in the development of Ferrari's V12 sports car machinery — the 290 MM and its successors would form the basis of Ferrari's challenge through 1957 — and pointed toward the return of a fuller, more competitive calendar in the seasons ahead.