2024 | Ferrari 296 LMGT3

Highlights

Campaigned in the full 2024 World Endurance Championship by the Works Ferrari team AF Corse

Won the final round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship: the 8 Hours of Bahrain

Untouched since its victorious final outing in Bahrain, complete with desert race grime and dried champagne stains

Finished third in the 2024 LMGT3 Drivers’ and Teams’ FIA Endurance Trophies

Raced by Works driver Alessio Rovera supported by Simon Mann and François Heriau throughout the entire 2024 season, including in the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Pole position for the 6 Hours of Fuji, the penultimate round of the 2024 season

A World Championship race-winning example of Ferrari’s latest GT endurance racing challenger

A guaranteed entry to Ferrari’s Club Competizione GT, a private events programme in its exclusive Corse Clienti department

Powered by the same twin-turbocharged V6 as found in the double Le Mans-winning 499P Hypercar

Accompanied by a set of spare wheels, its 2024 World Endurance Championship trophies and a driver’s race suit

The Ferrari 296 LMGT3

The latest in the Prancing Horse’s illustrious line of GT weapons, the 296 LMGT3 is the car with which Ferrari will embark on the next generation of GT motorsport. In the top-tier World Endurance Championship, it’s bolstering the marque’s arsenal of front-running 499P Hypercars, flying the Ferrari flag in the new singular LMGT3 category. Conceived to level the playing field between factory and privateer teams, LMGT3 heralds a conceptual return to the egalitarian roots of GT motorsport. And greater competition can only be a good thing for everyone.

With LMGT3’s regulations mandating ‘amateur’ Bronze drivers, Ferrari arguably had more to gain by making the 296 approachable to less experienced gentlemen drivers than razor-sharp for the pros. Ferrari reckons it’s its fastest, most aerodynamically efficient and most technologically advanced GT racer yet, though also the easiest, safest and most enjoyable to drive. Versatility is king.

The 296 differs from its forebears in that it’s not powered by a 90-degree naturally aspirated V8 but rather a 120-degree twin-turbocharged V6 engine, just like that found in the double Le Mans-winning 499P.

The similarities with its Hypercar big brother don’t end there. In designing the car from the ground up and specifically with the hard-fought door-to-door competition of GT3 racing in mind, the 296 LMGT3 is packaged like a prototype. That means entirely removeable front and rear bodywork, facilitating easier access to the car’s vitals and, in turn, much quicker pit stops.

Extensively developed by Ferrari’s elite squadron of Competizione GT drivers, the 296 LMGT3 debuted in the 2023 Daytona 24 Hours. In the two years since, it’s chalked a stunning record-setting outright victory in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, class victory in the Daytona 24 Hours, two GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup championships and two FIA World Endurance Championship race wins.

Chassis number 5144

One of the two Ferrari 296 LMGT3s prepared for Vista AF Corse to campaign in the full 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, chassis number 5144 was an ‘all-boxes-ticked’ example. As such, it benefitted from a raft of features enhancing its potential as an endurance sports-racing car. These included the additional 24-hour high-beam lights (10,000 euros on their own), two-step data acquisition system, carbon clutch and rear camera.

The 2024 World Endurance Championship

This 296 LMGT3 was given the race number 55 and assigned to the Works Ferrari driver and two-time World Endurance Champion Alessio Rovera. Rovera would be bolstered by the American Italian GT Champion Simon Mann and the French endurance-racing veteran François Heriau.

Round 1: Qatar 1,812KM

Result: 7th in LMGT3

“The 296 LMGT3 responded well and we are satisfied that the work done since the pre-season tests has paid off,” commented Works Ferrari driver Alessio Rovera after the number 55 team finished seventh of 18 starters in the season-opening round in Qatar. Rovera also recorded the fastest lap of the race. “I am confident for the rest of the season.” His confidence would prove well-founded…

Round 2: 6 Hours of Imola

Result: 4th in LMGT3

In front of a record-breaking home crowd yet working against challenging dry-to-wet conditions, the number-55 Ferrari finished a commendable fourth place after six hours of racing at Imola. Works Ferrari driver Rovera, who once again recorded the fastest race lap, blamed ill-timed safety cars and tough tyre choices for not being on the podium. “Let’s try to keep working up the ladder,” he said following the race.

Round 3: 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Result: 13th in LMGT3

An ill-timed red-flag four hours in to the race thwarted the number-55 Ferrari, which was running comfortably in third position but was required to make an extra unplanned pit stop. Despite the result, this 296’s young American ‘Silver’ driver Simon Mann relished racing in the Ardennes Forest. “In ideal conditions with the 296 LMGT3, you can take Eau Rouge at full-throttle,” he commented. “The feeling inside the cockpit is really striking.”

Round 4: 24 Hours of Le Mans

Result: 6th in LMGT3

The big one. Team 55 enjoyed a corking start to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, climbing to fourth place as darkness enveloped the Circuit de la Sarthe and the rain began to fall. Despite a pesky puncture that disrupted the rhythm and frankly atrocious conditions through the night, Works Ferrari driver Alessio Rovera crossed the finish line a commendable sixth in class driving chassis number 5144. It was an impressive result in an especially challenging war of attrition.

Round 5: 6 Hours of São Paulo

Result: 6th in LMGT3

He might have been the ‘Bronze’ drive in the number-55 lineup, but Frenchman François Heriau more than proved his worth with his opening stint at Interlagos, climbing from seventh to third position within the first hour. Exceptionally high tyre wear and a fiercely competitive midfield battle ultimately resulted in a second consecutive sixth-place finish. Points are points and this team’s consistency will ultimately pay off.

Round 6: Lone Star Le Mans

Result: 10th in LMGT3

Once again team 55 demonstrated its raw potential, starting third on the grid and quickly advancing to second in the race. Once again, however, progress was thwarted by a trivial problem: in this case a 100-second penalty issued as a result of an axle sensor discrepancy. “We keep getting very close to our first podium,” said Works driver Alessio Rovera. “There are still two races left in the season, and we will do our utmost to achieve it.”

Round 7: 6 Hours of Fuji

Pole position

Result: 6th in LMGT3

A weekend of firsts. The penultimate round in Japan finally saw the number 55 Ferrari realise a glimpse of the potential it had so positively indicated all season long. Frenchman François Heriau clocked a searing lap of Fuji Speedway during Hyperpole qualifying, strong enough indeed for pole position. It was to be the first time the 296 LMGT3 had topped the time sheets in the World Endurance Championship. The race was similarly successful… for the sister number-54 outfit, that is, which earned the 296 LMGT3 its maiden World Endurance Championship victory.

Round 8: 8 Hours of Bahrain

Result: 1st in LMGT3

A hard-fought race in the sweltering heat of the Bahraini desert saw the number-55 Ferrari team finally taste the success it so decidedly deserved. Works Ferrari driver Alessio Rovera drove the proverbial wheels off his 296 LMGT3, clinically picking off his competitors to cross the finish line first, a mere three seconds ahead of the second-place Corvette. “The key really lay in those last three to four hours,” explained a jubilant Rovera after the race, “so a big congratulations to François and Simon for managing the tyres so well in the opening part of the race.”

Silverware for Vista AF Corse Team 55

At the end of a World Championship season in which chassis number 5144 finished each of the eight races it entered, the number-55 Vista AF Corse team secured third place in the FIA Endurance Trophy for both LMGT3 Teams and Drivers. The Teams trophy accompanies the car, in addition to a race suit from one of the three drivers. Thanks to his consistently quick pace and multiple fastest race laps, Alessio Rovera was also awarded the Goodyear Wingfoot Award for the fastest driver in the LMGT3 class.

Chassis 5144 today

Following its victorious final outing in Bahrain, this Ferrari 296 LMGT3 was returned to AF Corse’s Padova headquarters and, remarkably, has remained entirely untouched since. Still on the very same tyres with which it crossed the finish line at Sakhir and caked in eight hours’ worth of rubber and road grime, chassis number 5144 is fitted with the engine and gearbox installed for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and used in the subsequent four rounds of the 2024 season. These major components are at the halfway point in their mechanical lifespans.

This 296 LMGT3 presents disciples of the Prancing Horse with a fascinating proposition today – a unique chance to acquire a World Championship race-winning example of the very latest contemporary Ferrari GT endurance sports-racing car.

There is, of course, the option to race the car in the myriad contemporary GT3 championships across the world. Then there is the opportunity to preserve the car as a collectors’ piece and capitalise on its approachability and useability as a track weapon. This 296 LMGT3 would, of course, be eligible for Ferrari’s exclusive Club Competizione GT programme, which is part of its hallowed Corse Clienti department.

Club Competizione GT is your chance to join the Ferrari family and drive the 296 LMGT3 during private events on the world’s greatest motor circuits. The 2025 International and North American programmes - held in conjunction with Ferrari’s F1 Clienti and XX programmes – include Monza, Daytona, Fuji, Indianapolis, Barcelona, Silverstone and Mugello. The generous track time is controlled and non-competitive and includes coaching from professional Competizione GT drivers, spare tyres and bespoke logistics. Away from the track there’s the world-class and intimate hospitality you’d expect from Ferrari.

Crucially, if AF Corse is entrusted with preparing and running chassis number 5144 for its new owner, a 1,500km or 12-month mechanical warranty will be offered directly from the de-facto Works Ferrari team.

After a solid start to its competitive career, the 296 LMGT3 looks set to continue the winning legacy forged by its eight-cylinder GT predecessors, beginning with the 348 GT and culminating in the 488 GTE. A World Championship race-winning example campaigned by the Works AF Corse team and untouched since its victorious outing, chassis number 5144 is a standout car from the beginning of what promises to be a hugely successful story.

Price Upon Application