Ferrari press car driven hard by journalists up for $13M

In the world of collector cars, the rule is simple: the fewer miles on a rare machine, the higher the price. But one Ferrari is about to turn that logic inside out.

A yellow Daytona SP3 that spent years being driven flat-out by automotive journalists is heading to auction with an estimated price of $10 million to $13 million, roughly double what pristine, low-mileage examples of the same model fetch.

The car, built in June 2022 and carrying chassis number 277499, was never delivered to a private buyer when it rolled off the line. Instead, Ferrari kept it for development and press duties, handing the keys to writers from Top Gear, Car and Driver, Road & Track and other leading outlets.

While most collector Ferraris spend their lives in climate-controlled garages, this yellow Daytona lived hard. Professional drivers and journalists tested its limits, accelerated it to triple-digit speeds, and wrung out every ounce of performance from its thundering V12.

829 horsepower and a staggering price tag

Under the yellow bodywork sits a 6.5-liter V12 engine producing 829 horsepower, capable of launching the car from zero to 62 mph in around 2.8 seconds.

The Daytona SP3 was created as a tribute to Ferrari's racing heritage, particularly its 1-2-3 finish at the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona. The design draws from the marque's 1960s race cars, blending classic lines with modern engineering.

This particular example wears a special three-layer yellow paint called Giallo Triple Strato, along with exposed carbon fiber body panels and roof, and Ferrari's prancing horse emblems painted on the bodywork.

In early 2025, the car was sold for the first time to a private buyer and registered in the United Kingdom. Its odometer shows approximately 2,947 miles, unremarkable for a daily driver, but significant for a rare collector's piece.

Why it's worth more than cars that barely moved

Typical Daytona SP3 examples sell today for around $5 million to $6 million, but auction house RM Sotheby's estimates this yellow car could bring double that figure or more.

The reason isn't just mechanical condition, it's the extraordinary story. The fact that it served as Ferrari's official press car and appeared in international media coverage gives it a narrative that could make it more desirable to collectors than a garage queen.

Still, even a $13 million result would fall well short of the record set in 2025, when a unique Daytona SP3 sold at a charity auction for $26 million.

Now the question is whether the world's wealthiest collectors will prefer a car that was carefully preserved, or the Ferrari that already proved to the world what it can do on the road.