Description
Price Upon Request One of two 550 chassis officially commissioned by Ferrari and constructed by N. Technology Initially retained by Ferrari S. p. A, and loaned to leading French Sports and GT team JMB Racing Entered in four rounds of the 2003 FIA GT Championship, and driven by leading GT exponents including Fabio Babini, Philipp Peter and Christian Pescatori. Victorious in the GTM category of the Italian Hillclimb Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2014 Just four owners–including Ferrari–from new. Ferrari Classiche certified in 2021, retains its original body, chassis, gearbox and engine Eligible for Club Competizione GT events and prestigious Historic Racing series including Endurance Racing Legends and Masters Endurance Legends The late 1970s and 1980s were characterised by a period of corporate restructuring at Ferrari, which led to an increased focus on the company’s Formula 1 programme and resultant waning enthusiasm for other sporting activities. Consequently, the 1980s and early 1990s were lean years for Ferrari in endurance racing. Remarkably, at Le Mans–a race which they had previously won on nine occasions–the period from 1985 to 1993 passed without a single Ferrari contesting the race. However, the constantly evolving nature of the sport–and Sports car racing in particular–mercifully rendered Ferrari’s absence from top-line endurance racing only temporary. The combination of the highly successful IMSA-based 333 SP Sportscar programme and a burgeoning GT racing scene in Europe heightened enthusiasm for a potential Ferrari “closed wheel” racing return; the company’s recently introduced 550 Maranello model representing the ideal basis for a car very much in the mould of its Competizione predecessors. Eager to avoid compromising its existing Formula 1 or IMSA programmes, Ferrari offered cautious encouragement to several privately funded, 550 Maranello-based projects rather than opting to develop a car “in house”. French GT team Red Racing commissioned Italian Race and Rally specialists Italtecnica to develop a GT3-specification car as early as 1999; the programme subsequently being expanded to develop a contender for the top-level GT class in the 2000 FIA GT Championship. Italtecnica-built cars were campaigned initially by First Racing–with lamentable results–and subsequently by Team Rafanelli, with whom they achieved a handful of podium placings in the 2001 FIA GT Championship and 2002 American Le Mans Series. However, from mid-2001 onwards the British Prodrive team joined the FIA GT Championship ranks with their self-developed 550 Maranello GTS; the project being almost entirely funded by French shipping magnate Frédéric Dor. Results were virtually immediate–with Rickard Rydell and Peter Kox taking victory in only the car’s second race–while in 2002, Prodrive-built cars won a further four FIA rounds and took class victory in the American Le Mans Series round at Laguna Seca. However, 2003 would prove to be the car’s breakout year, with Banbury-built chassis securing four ALMS victories, the FIA GT Championship and a GTS class win at Le Mans. As the 2002 season had progressed–with increasingly encouraging, if somewhat belated results–Ferrari found themselves reappraising their future involvement in GT racing. Production of the 550 Maranello road car had ceased in late 2001, to be replaced by the evolutionary 575M in 2002. Such a transition therefore presented the factory with an ideal opportunity to assume responsibility for production of any future Competition derivative of the 575M, rather than permitting third parties to do so, as had been the case previously. To this end, Ferrari themselves commissioned the Alfa Romeo-affiliated European Touring Car Championship team N. Technology to build two FIA-specification 550 Maranello chassis over the winter of 2002/ 2003. Dubbed the 550 Maranello GTC, these would effectively serve as prototypes for a factory-blessed–but still privateer-focussed–replacement, the 575M GTC. Both 550 GTC chassis–2102 and 2104–would be entrusted to loyal Ferrari customer team JMB Racing, and entered in selected rounds of the 2003 FIA GT Championship. Chassis 2102–the car RM Sotheby’s are proud to offer here–made its race debut in the Donington 500 kilometres, the fifth round of the season. Christian Terrien, Philipp Peter, and Boris Derichebourg shared driving duties; the **** qualifying a respectable 13th out of 29 starters–albeit some 2. 5 seconds adrift of the pole-sitting Chrysler Viper. However, a troubled race restricted them to 21st overall and 11th in class at the finish. JMB’s next outing was in the Spa 24 Hours, in which half Championship points would be awarded at six and twelve hours, in addition to the customary full allocation at race distance. On this occasion, Babini and Derichebourg were joined in 2102 by Philipp Peter; their 10th place after qualifying reflecting their focus on race pace rather than outright speed. In the race, the notorious Ardennes weather played...
