Ferrari are famously tight-lipped about the number of cars produced in their racing categories but what is becoming very clear is that their forthcoming Ferrari 296 GT3 is set to break into new sales territory for a Prancing Horse GT3.
An informed source at Ferrari suggests that the overall production total for the outgoing 488 GT3 was around the 160 car mark – with a significantly smaller number of GTE versions also produced. Note that some cars at least have competed in both GTE and GT3 trim with the cars able to be converted between the two.
Whilst multiple industry sources have confirmed that the new 296 GT3’s order book was already into three figures, pre-orders for the car are understood now to have exceeded the production total for the 488 GT3 and may even have reached 200 cars!
Certainly, several senior sources offered the opinion that the level of demand is already far in excess of initial expectations with a significant effort now in place to manage the flow of new cars to preferred customers whilst also building up the production and customer support facilities and process, both of which are being handled by ORECA at their new facility at Signes.
Whilst unwilling to specify a number of orders or pre-orders, Alessandra Todeschini, head of Competizioni GT at Ferrari, did confirm though that the level of commercial interest in the 296 GT3 was already at a level far in excess of that which Ferrari anticipated:
“It is all sold out for next year but it is difficult to say a number because we are also creating the production capacity. It would not be correct to give a number for cars sold but certainly the level of requests we have had already is what we were expecting over five years!”
The car is set for its competitive debut in January’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with cars expected to compete across both the GTD Pro and GTD classes, though the earlier touted figure of 6 cars for the IMSA season-opener may be reduced to 5.
Cars look set to be provided for customers in IMSA, GT World Challenge (Europe, America and Asia) and Michelin Le Mans Cup in the first tranches of deliveries but the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series looks set to still see the 488 in competition as the support logistics for the new car focus on Daytona in that general time period in its early stages.
