Unique Ferrari to go under the hammer at Le Mans

The factory Ferrari team is back in the top endurance category this year, with two bright red 499P hypercars starting from the front row at Le Mans.

But these aren’t the only Maranello-built cars that are grabbing everyone’s attention these days. Auction house RM Sotheby’s is holding an auction in Le Mans for a unique Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’ Competizione with a very interesting history.

In 1971, the era of monstrous sports prototypes with 5-liter engines in endurance races ended, and on June 12, the Ferrari 512 cars left the starting line at Le Mans for the last time. But then the victory did not go to them, but to the Porsche 917, and none other than Helmut Marko won the race together with Gijs van Lennep. Second place was taken by the crew in the same car and two Ferrari 512s took 3rd and 4th place.

The Ferrari at auction finished fifth, although it is not a prototype, but a front-engined sports car. But of course not quite ordinary, since the car has undergone thorough factory training.

Commissioned by the North American Racing team, Italian specialists made a number of changes, some related to the 4.4-litre V12 power unit and transmission, some chassis, some bodies. The car, driven at Le Mans by Americans Bob Grossman and Luigi Chinetti Jr., performed well, gradually moving up into higher positions and eventually finishing fifth, although losing to the 83-lap winners.

Nevertheless, it was a success and it was no coincidence that the crew personally received a congratulatory telegram from Enzo Ferreri at the end of the race.

After that, the car took part in various American endurance races, then remained for decades on the other side of the Atlantic in private collections and only returned to Europe relatively recently. Last year, her current owner decided to completely restore her and bring her back to the original condition in which she participated in the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This work was successfully carried out in Italy and the Maranello warehouses even had some original parts released more than half a century ago.

And now this car with chassis number 12467 is up for auction. The estimated price is only given to those who show serious interest in the unique Ferrari, although there is no doubt that the new owner will have to pay a seven-figure sum for it.