Finished in Giallo Triplo Strato over Rosso Ferrari leather, this bright yellow 829-horsepower tribute to Ferrari’s 1967 Daytona sweep is one of just 599 built.
Ferrari’s Icona Series spans the single-seater Monza SP1—which was once deemed the “world’s most beautiful car” based on its adherence to the Golden Ratio—the Monza SP2 barchetta, and the Daytona SP3 targa. All three low-volume models were offered exclusively to VIP Ferrari customers, meaning that money wasn’t enough to acquire an example. Until now, that is, as a Ferrari-retained Daytona SP3 is headed to auction more than four years after its debut.
The artful automobile employs a derivation of the 65-degree V12 used in the 812 Superfast, 812 Competizione, and LaFerrari halo hybrid hypercar. Driving the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the 6.5-liter engine launches the SP3 from 0 to 62 mph in just 2.85 seconds. With an output of 829 brake horsepower, the Daytona SP3 houses the most potent non-electrically assisted 12-cylinder engine in Ferrari road car history but, incredibly, even eclipses the might of Ferrari’s V12 Can-Am and Formula 1 cars.
Formidable performance aside, the Daytona SP3 wasn’t devised to compete. It’s the third and most recent in Ferrari’s low-volume Icona Series of breathtaking reinterpretations of Maranello’s most legendary models and design signatures, all of which were reserved for Ferrari’s best and most loyal clientele.
But while the windshield-less Monzas were straight-lined and sleek, the SP3 features swooping wheel arches, a wraparound windshield, and knife-like rear strakes that nod to the 1980s-era Testarossa. Instead of active aerodynamics, it features passive systems such as the “chimneys” that extract low-pressure air from the underbody, making it the most aerodynamically efficient Ferrari ever produced at the time of its 2021 debut.
As with those of the twin Monzas, the SP3’s design elements culminate in one word: beauty. It was named the Most Beautiful Supercar of 2022 at the Festival Automobile International de Paris and earned the prestigious Red Dot Best of the Best design award.
It was also lauded by journalists who were lucky enough to get behind its Prancing Horse-badged wheel. Writing for the October 2022 issue of Motor Sport magazine after a test at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France, Andrew Frankel wrote: “I have never in my life been in a road car that has attracted so much attention, and for almost exclusively the right reasons… You could argue that cars like the SP3 are not to be taken terribly seriously. But am I glad it exists and even happier to have driven it? With every bone in my body.”
As Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari’s chief design officer, told Maxim in 2022, “While the Monza SP1 reprises the barchetta concept, which is essentially a single-seater body with no roof, the Daytona SP3 arose from the idea of developing an equally as strong design product.”
In particular, the Daytona SP3 was crafted as an homage to the 330 P3/4 and 330 P4 that finished first and second at the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona. “I’m referring to the unbridled beauty, with such a voluptuous, sensual, formidable aesthetic, of racing cars from the past that were born to be used on the tracks,” Manzoni continued. “The shapes were the fruit of carefully conducted aerodynamics studies, but it was the creative genius of the great masters like [Sergio] Scaglietti and [Piero] Drogo, just to name a few, that made them works of art.”
Of the 599 Daytona SP3s created, this one has what a Ferrarista would deem royal automotive provenance, having been specified and retained not by a customer, but by Ferrari SpA. The Extra Range exterior color of Giallo Triplo Strato—Italian for “triple-layer yellow”—is paired with an interior clad in Rosso Ferrari leather across the dashboard, large-size integrated seat cushions, and backrests. The headrests feature the Cavallino logo and upper and lower Alcantara accents. The removable hardtop roof panel, lower bodywork, and engine-lid lip were selected in carbon fiber.
RM Sotheby’s has more on this Daytona SP3’s short but fulfilled life:
The Daytona thrilled the American automotive media during drives by Car and Driver (at Dutch Grand Prix host venue Zandvoort) and Road & Track (at Belgian Formula 1 circuit Spa-Francorchamps). Then, having already cemented itself as a darling in print, the SP3 would earn [its] television break in series 33, episode five of Top Gear. Aired on primetime BBC One on 18 December 2022, the Ferrari featured in what currently stands as the final instalment of the famed motoring show.
Chassis 277499 remained with Ferrari SpA through to March 2025, at which time it was purchased by the vendor—the first and only private owner—via H R Owen (Ferrari Hatfield) and registered for road use in the United Kingdom. The car heads to RM Sotheby’s London auction accompanied by its owner’s guides, ECC Certificate of Conformity, tool and tire inflator kits, plus both the removable carbon fiber roof panel and its collapsible canvas setup. The odometer displayed 2,948 miles at the time of cataloging.
Expect this ex-Ferrari Daytona SP3 to sell for between $10.0 million and $12.7 million at RM Sotheby’s London Auction 2026 when it crosses the block on October 31.
