Ferrari Fires Back

The message behind the Prancing Horse’s new multimillion-dollar Daytona SP3 is impossible to miss – which is precisely the point.

- Viju Mathew

ENZO FERRARI ONCE stated: “I believe most things can be said in a few lines.” He could have been referring to the sweeping curves of the Daytona SP3, the newest addition to the marque’s ultra-exclusive, invite-only Icona series. The 828hp coupe gives modern contour to both a 75-year legacy and one of racing’s great revenge stories, all in the nose-thumbing, iconoclastic style for which Ferrari is famous.

Limited to 599 examples priced at US$2.2 million each, the Daytona SP3 is a homage to the Italian automaker’s sports prototypes of the 1960s, most notably the Ferrari 330 P3/P4, 350 CanAm and 512 S. Its name derives from the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona, where Ferrari turned the tables on Ford after being humiliated by the Detroit automaker the year before at Le Mans, replicating the famous three-abreast victory on its way to capturing that season’s World Sports Car Championship in perhaps motorsport’s greatest tit-for-tat.

That golden age of Maranello is the inspiration for the 12-cylinder Daytona SP3, developed in part to repay Ferrari’s most devout collectors for their loyalty at a time when the supercar landscape is veering toward electrification and burgeoning with new constructors. Then, of course, there’s the neighbouring Raging Bull and its increasingly innovative lineup – but unlike Lamborghini’s 802hp Countach hybrid, Ferrari’s rear-wheel drive Daytona hews comfortingly close to its original aerodynamic and powertrain influences.