When Luca di Montezemolo greenlit the development of what would become the F333 SP, he heralded Ferrari’s return to endurance racing’s top flight for the first time in over two decades. Originally designed in partnership with Dallara for privateer teams to contest the newly formed IMSA World Sports Car Championship (WSC) in America, the F333 SP was the brainchild of Gianpiero Moretti, the Italian motorsport magnate and the founder of MOMO. You see Moretti had enjoyed much success racing in the United States, yet by 1993, one goal eluded him: to win in a Ferrari sports car. With the radical change in the IMSA rulebook, the timing was impeccable. He called the F333 SP Il Sogno Americano – his American dream.
Ferrari’s return to endurance racing naturally made waves right across the motorsport world – exactly the kind of momentum the IMSA organisers needed. And there was much to be excited about: a strong and sophisticated monocoque chassis, a stunning body honed exactly to the WSC regulations in Dallara’s state-of-the-art wind tunnel, and a four-litre V12 engine derived from that in the 641 Formula 1 single-seater – a car which won six Grands Prix in the 1990 season. A special note must be made for the engine note produced by this engine: a shrill yet melodic howl that sends shivers down the spine.
Ferrari had intended to publicly display the 1m-US-dollar F333 SP for the first time in the paddock during the 1994 Daytona 24 Hours (it wasn’t quite ready to race by this point). But such was the fervour surrounding the introduction of the new car that the race organisers feared it would detract from the on-track action. Ferrari was instead forced to hire a suite at the nearby Hilton hotel and arrange private viewings of the car by appointment!
“The inherent pace and reliability of the F333 SP coupled with both Ferrari and privateer outfits’ nous for upgrading it in line with ever-changing technical regulations meant it enjoyed extraordinary competition longevity.”
The inherent pace and reliability of the F333 SP coupled with both Ferrari and privateer outfits’ nous for upgrading it in line with ever-changing technical regulations meant it enjoyed extraordinary competition longevity. F333 SPs were a successful staple of endurance racing not only in America but around the world for almost a decade, only bowing out in 2003 when Audi had found its groove with the all-conquering R8. The statistics speak for themselves: 126 races, 47 wins and 12 major championships. Only 40 examples were produced, the first four by Ferrari in Maranello, the next nine by Dallara in Varano and the remaining chassis by Michelotto in Padova.
Chassis number 003
As its chassis number denotes, the F333 SP we’re honoured to be offering – 003 – was the third example produced and thus built by Ferrari in Maranello. Prior to delivery to its first private owner, Andy Evans of Scandia Motorsport in the United States, Ferrari took the opportunity to exhibit this F333 SP on its stand at the 1994 Geneva Motor Show, among its entire range of road-going models. Chassis 003’s first public appearance on European soil set the rumour mill swirling, for the motorsport world believed it signalled the Prancing Horse’s intentions to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In part, the rumours were true.
Shortly after the Geneva salon, this F333 SP was sent across the pond where it was poised to contest select rounds of the 1994 IMSA GT Championship in the top-flight WSC category. Racing under the Scandia Motorsport banner, chassis 003 was raced primarily by the team owner and Wall Street banker Andy Evans, with guest drivers including Ross Bentley, Charles Morgan and Fermín Vélez. And it proved to be a successful campaign. Two podiums – in The New England Dodge Dealers Grand Prix at Lime Rock and the Indy Grand Prix at Indianapolis – were crowned by a stellar outright victory in the Monterey Sports Car Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. Evans’ 169 points were good for fourth overall in the title standings.
The 1995 IMSA World Sports Car Championship beckoned for this Ferrari F333 SP, which was once again racing for Andy Evans’ Scandia Motorsport outfit. If the curtain-raising Daytona 24 Hours didn’t go the number-three crew’s way (the engine gave up the ghost) then the 12 Hours of Sebring which followed more than made up for it. Unusually for the Florida endurance classic, proceedings were plagued by inclement weather, so much so that the race had to be halted for an hour as darkness fell.
Evans and his copilots Fermín Vélez and Eric van de Poele engaged in a race-long tussle with the Chevrolet-powered Spice of endurance veterans Derek Bell, Andy Wallace, Jan Lammers and Morris Shirazi. But when the chequered flag fell, it was the F333 SP of Scandia Motorsport which crossed the line first, claiming an emphatic victory. It was the first time a Ferrari had triumphed at Sebring since Messrs. Andretti and Ickx in 1972 – 23 years prior. The incredible result was nothing short of a fairy tale.
Highlights for chassis 003 from the remainder of the 1995 season included podiums at Lime Rock and Sears Point and an excellent outright victory in the 2 Hours of Phoenix. After what had been a stellar year of racing, Fermín Vélez was crowned the IMSA Exxon World Sports Car Championship Drivers’ champion and Ferrari duly won the manufacturers’ gong.
While this F333 SP did contest the final three rounds of the following year’s IMSA World Sports Car Championship, chassis 003’s 1996 was predominantly preoccupied by the world’s greatest endurance motor race: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mounting an assault on the French endurance classic was a significant undertaking, necessitating an alliance from Evans’ Scandia Motorsport outfit. It teamed up with the fellow American team RocketSports Racing, which would enter chassis number 003 at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Ahead of Le Mans, Dallara had worked closely with acclaimed designer Tony Southgate to optimise the F333 SP’s bodywork for the Circuit de la Sarthe’s long straights – an update chassis 003 duly received. The package included smoother bodywork with a large side-mounted air intake, extra-thin low-drag splitter and front wing, lateral deflectors to reduce cockpit turbulence and new four-piston Brembo brake calipers.
At the traditional Le Mans pre-qualifying session in April of 1996, the raw pace of the revised F333 SP quickly became apparent: chassis 003, driven by Paul Gentilozzi and Eric van de Poele, recorded a best lap time of 3min48.6sec – good enough for second overall behind the second Scandia Motorsport-entered F333 SP. Early signs were looking promising for Andy Evans’ outfit and, more pertinently, the Prancing Horse. Suffice to say, all eyes in Maranello were on Scandia Motorsport for the 24 Hours proper.
At the Circuit de la Sarthe in June, the Scandia Motorsport/RocketSports Racing Ferrari F333 SP was given the race number 18 and earmarked for chassis 003 regulars Andy Evans and Fermín Vélez. They were joined by the 1995 French Touring Car Champion Yvan Muller. After Wednesday’s opening qualifying sessions, Eric Van de Poele in the sister Scandia Motorsport Ferrari was on provisional pole position and the chassis 003 crew were an impressive seventh, illustrating the blistering pace of the Le Mans-spec F333 SP. If it wasn’t already clear, the 12-cylinder Prancing Horse was certainly the car to beat.
Naturally it didn’t take long for the news to reach Maranello. Ferrari’s top brass was confident yet cautious and actually urged Evans to not risk the cars in Thursday’s subsequent sessions but instead focus on setting them up for the race itself. Naturally, Evans heeded the advice, even if it meant sacrificing pole position. Alas, come Saturday and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Lady Luck was not smiling on the Scandia Motorsport team. Evans started in the number 18 – an eventful stint which culminated in a rather red-faced retirement when his F333 SP ran out of fuel around two hours into the race.
“Eric Van de Poele in the sister Ferrari was on provisional pole position, illustrating the blistering pace of the F333 SP. If it wasn’t already clear, the 12-cylinder Prancing Horse was certainly the car to beat.”
In the long competition career of this Ferrari F333 SP, its zenith was arguably reached at the beginning of the 1997 IMSA World Sports Car Championship. Evans, who by this point had acquired a controlling stake of the International Motor Sports Association, had two last dalliances with chassis number 003 ahead of him – and in the two most prestigious races on the calendar to boot: the Daytona 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
A bumper field of 80 cars took to the start of the Daytona 24 Hours in 1997, 16 of which were vying for outright honours in the World Sports Car class. Andy Evans and Fermín Vélez were joined in chassis number 003 by the American brothers Charles and Rob Morgan for the twice-round-the-clock affair. And they got off to a great start on the world-famous banking, Fermín Vélez entering a lap of 1min40.5sec – pole position and almost half a second quicker than the Moretti Racing-entered Ferrari F333 SP. Despite narrowly missing out on victory in the race (the Dyson Racing Riley & Scott crossed the finish line a paltry lap ahead), a second-place trophy and the fastest race lap were very welcome spoils for Scandia Motorsport.
The 1997 12 Hours of Sebring presented Scandia’s Andy Evans with a scenario never seen in top-flight motorsport before, nor we suspect since. Not only did he own the team running the car he was due to race, but he also owned the series in which he was racing and the Sebring International Raceway itself.
The Daytona driver lineup may have been proven, but Evans couldn’t resist adding a little spice for this most special of occasions. The Swedish Formula 1 veteran Stefan Johansson and the French four-time Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas were drafted in to support Evans and Vélez. The partnership would prove to be a fruitful one: for the second time in its career, chassis 003 triumphed in the classic Florida endurance race. To our knowledge, there is only one other Ferrari chassis to have won the 12 Hours of Sebring on two occasions and that’s the 250 TRI/61 chassis number 0792 TR.
Evans finally parted with chassis number 003 after his spectacular Sebring victory, selling the Ferrari to Charles Morgan, who’d formed part of the formidable trio of pilots at Daytona and Sebring. For the remainder of the 1997 IMSA season, the Ferrari was campaigned under the Dibos Racing banner and driven predominantly by Edoardo Dibos, Fermín Vélez and Eliseo Salazar.
The owner of the Italian team G.L.V. Brums Giuseppe Prevosti acquired chassis number 003 in early 1998, returning the car to Europe for the first time since it was born and entering the newly-formed International Sports Racing Series (ISRS), which had been conceived solely for open-cockpit sports-racing cars. As the FIA officially recognised the ISRS, so the series was renamed the Sports Racing World Cup for the 1999 season. G.L.V. Brums once again campaigned the car, this time in all nine rounds. The team did not veer from the dependable driver duo of Giovanni Lavaggi and Gaston Mazzacane, who picked up two podiums and a stunning outright victory at Magny-Cours in France.
Four further podium finishes for this Ferrari in the 2000 Sports Racing World Cup helped G.L.V. Brums to finish fourth in the manufacturers’ standings. And even with a Judd V10 engine fitted in place of the Ferrari V12, chassis 003 managed to win the 1000KM di Monza, round two of the FIA Sportscar Championship, in 2001. Seven years after it made its competitive debut, this Ferrari was still winning top-flight sports-car races. It’s a testament to the inherent pace of the F333 SP.
Its extraordinary competition career finally over, chassis number 003 was honourably retired at the end of 2003. Reunited with its original Ferrari 12-cylinder engine, the car was kept by Prevosti in his personal collection for almost a decade – telling of the affinity he clearly held for it. This F333 SP’s current owner, an American collector with a plethora of ultra-significant competition Ferraris including a 250 LM and a 312 PB, purchased the car directly from Prevosti in 2012.
In the 11 years since, said collector has spent over 500,000 US dollars on restoring, preparing and maintaining this Ferrari sports prototype to the nth degree. In 2019, the car was submitted for the all-important Ferrari Classiche certification – certification it duly received, confirming the originality of the chassis, engine and gearbox. Refinished in its 1995 Sebring-winning livery, chassis 003 shows only three hours of use on its powertrain since the last rebuild and is presented in exquisite condition – as the photographs illustrate.
“In 2019, chassis 003 was submitted for the all-important Ferrari Classiche certification – certification it duly received, confirming the originality of the chassis, engine and gearbox.”
As Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 for the first time since 1965, so new light has been cast on the Prancing Horse’s star-studded back catalogue of endurance competition cars. And given its extraordinary competition longevity and stunning record of results, the F333 SP is a car which absolutely deserves to be held among the greatest of them all – 250 P, 330 P4 and 312 PB included.
To say we’re honoured to be offering chassis 003 would be an understatement of epic proportions: this car has so many alluring strings to its bow, not least its origins in Maranello and near decade-long competition career in both America and Europe, encompassing five outright victories and the world’s greatest endurance motor races from Daytona to Le Mans.
That it won the 12 Hours of Sebring is a remarkable achievement, especially given the Prancing Horse’s then 23-year absence from the race. That it’s one of only two Ferrari chassis in history to have done it twice is nothing short of miraculous. This F333 SP’s string of mere four private owners in almost 30 years, its painstaking recent restoration and maintenance work and its Ferrari Classiche certification are crowning characteristics. To return this most special of Ferraris to the racetrack, either as part of Ferrari’s ultra-exclusive F1 Clienti programme or either of the burgeoning Endurance Racing Legends series, would be an experience to cherish forever.
