THE body of motor racing legend Juan Manuel Fangio has been exhumed after two men claimed he was their father.
A judge ruled that DNA could be taken from the five-time F1 world champion to settle the claims 20 years after his death.
Two men have brought separate cases claiming Argentine Fangio was their father and seeking a piece of the estate he left to a foundation and museum bearing his name.
Last night officials removed Fangio’s body from the family vault in Balcarce, eastern Argentina, and took it to a morgue for forensic testing.
Fangio died in 1995 aged 84 without ever marrying or declaring any children.
But his biographers say he had a two-decade long relationship with a woman named Andrea Berruet.
Her son Oscar Espinoza, who briefly raced on the junior-level Formula Three circuit in Europe, is one of the men who has launched a paternity claim along with another named Ruben Vazquez.
Espinoza’s lawyer Oscar Scarcella said the DNA results were expected in 30 to 60 days.
“Everything is proceeding absolutely normally,” he said.
Fangio, who launched his driving career in 1948, held the record for the most Formula One titles for five decades, until Germany’s Michael Schumacher broke it in 2003.
He was a sporting legend in his home country by the time he retired in 1958 with 24 victories to his name.
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