At the 1955 Mille Miglia in Italy, with Italian co-driver Ottavio Guarducci, he finished fifth in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce category.

He later competed in the 10 Hours of Messina, driving a Ferrrai 500 Mondial with Venezuelan Joao Rezende dos Santos, and finished second behind Maurice Trintignant and Eugenio Castellotti, winning his class.

Cabalén drove only during the final qualifying session, where he posted a time two-tenths of a second slower than Estéfano, but faster than Ettore Chimeri and Antonio Creus in their 250Fs.

With a Ford V8, Cabalén not only took his first victory (in Villa Carlos Paz), but was also runner-up that year, behind the champion Oscar Alfredo Gálvez.

On one of his test runs, his car left the road at more than 205 km/h, rolled several times and caught fire, coming to rest 100 metres down the track, on its wheels.