Ferrari 296 GT3

Scope of this guide

This guide is scoped to the Ferrari 296 GT3, the customer GT3 race car that Ferrari revealed in July 2022 and that first raced in 2023. It is the rear-wheel drive, mid-engine competition coupe with the 3.0L twin-turbo V6 petrol (Type F163CE) engine, built to the GT3 rules and sold to racing teams and drivers through Ferrari's customer racing programme. It is not a guide to the 296 GTB or 296 GTS road cars, which have their own entries in our catalogue and add a plug-in hybrid system that the race car leaves out. It is also not a guide to the 296 GT3 Evo that Ferrari showed in 2025 for the 2026 season, although several of the figures below also appear on pages about the Evo, and we say where that matters.

We have not driven this model for this article. Everything here comes from three cited sources: the launch report by Sportscar365 from 29 July 2022, which carries Ferrari's own statements from the reveal, PistonHeads' report of 30 July 2022, and the government recall checker. We also read launch coverage from Goodwood, Carscoops and Motor Sport, a Spanish-language specification summary from HighMotor, a specification page for the Evo on Ultimate Car Page and the 24H Series report on the car's first outing in that championship. We flag where a point rests on only one of them. We found no ownership reports, so this is a guide to what to check, not a record of what living with one is like. Prices are history, not a valuation.

The figures at a glance

• Engine: 3.0L twin-turbo V6 petrol (Type F163CE), a 120-degree V6 with a displacement of 2992 cc, sitting behind the driver. It keeps the road car's cylinder layout and firing order but loses the electric motor, because Ferrari said the hybrid system is not compliant with the competition technical regulations.
• Power: 600 bhp is the catalogue figure and the round number the sources quote, at a peak of 7,250 rpm. That is a metric horsepower claim. Goodwood prints 600 PS, which is 441 kW, and both Carscoops and Motor Sport convert it to about 592 bhp, which is our own check too: 600 x 0.98632 is about 592. Treat 600 bhp as a rounded headline, not a measured number. The Evo page lists 599 bhp.
• Torque: 710 Nm at 5,500 rpm, which Carscoops prints as 524 lb ft and HighMotor prints as 710 Nm at 5,500 rpm. Goodwood says up to 700 Nm, so the sources do not agree to the last digit.
• 0-100 km/h: no figure shown. No source we read gives a 0-100 km/h time for this car, and Ferrari does not appear to publish one, so our catalogue shows none.
• Top speed: no figure shown. We found no manufacturer top speed. A GT3 car is geared and aerodynamically set up for each circuit, so a single top speed means little.
• Drive: rear-wheel drive through a six-speed sequential gearbox with a single-disc clutch actuated electronically and controlled from the steering wheel, with the gearbox mounted transversely behind the engine. PistonHeads credits the gearbox to Xtrac and describes a magnesium casing.
• Weight: 1,250 kg dry, according to PistonHeads, and 1,250 kg without fuel or driver, according to Goodwood. The same source says Balance of Performance (BoP) can change weight from race to race.

What the power figure really means

Every GT3 car races under a system called Balance of Performance. The organisers of each series set minimum weights, boost levels and power limits for each model, so that a Ferrari, a Porsche, a McLaren and the rest can race on roughly equal terms. Goodwood puts it plainly for this car: BoP will dictate the state of tune on a case-by-case basis. That means 600 bhp is the engine's headline output, not a promise that a given car will make that power in a given race, and the figure can move up or down by series and by season. We did not find a published BoP table for the 296 GT3, and we are not going to guess at one.

The practical point for a buyer is that any claim about what the car will do depends on the rules of the series it is entered in. A seller who quotes a lap time or a top speed is describing one car, on one day, at one weight and boost setting.

How the car differs from the road car

The 296 GT3 shares the name and the V6 architecture with the 296 GTB, but it is a different machine. PistonHeads describes an entirely new aluminium chassis, lighter than the old one at 1,250 kg dry, with a wheelbase of 2,660 mm. Sportscar365 and Motor Sport both say the wheelbase was lengthened by 60 mm, the maximum allowed under the GT3 regulations. Suspension is double wishbones at both ends, with five-way adjustable dampers according to Carscoops. The bodywork has quick-release front and rear sections for faster repairs, and Ferrari claims about 20 per cent more downforce than the 488 GT3 that it replaces. Carscoops lists 400 mm front discs with six-piston calipers, 332 mm rear discs with four-piston calipers and 18 inch Rotiform wheels.

Goodwood says the V6 is 24 per cent more efficient than the old V8, and Motor Sport and Carscoops both say the engine sits lower than in the road car to improve the centre of gravity. Sportscar365 quotes the sports car director Antonello Coletta calling it the first modern-day Ferrari GT car designed entirely in-house in Maranello. We took those statements from the reports and did not check them against Ferrari's own site, which blocked our access.

How it is sold and supported

Ferrari sells the 296 GT3 through its customer racing programme, which Ferrari runs under the name Ferrari Competizioni GT. Sportscar365 reports that orders were handled through a configurator in Maranello and through Ferrari dealerships, and that ORECA handles assembly and parts support. It says Coletta expected the price to be slightly above the 488 GT3's 615,000 dollar starting price. We could not confirm the real price, and a used car's price will depend on its race history, so treat the number as context only. We found no published production count, so the catalogue gives none.

The car's first race was the 2023 Daytona 24 Hours. Search results quoting Ferrari's own race reports said four cars ran there and several retired after contact, but we could not read that page because the site blocked us, so we treat it as indicative. The 24H Series report we did read shows a customer car run by Kessel Racing finishing seventh overall at Monza in June 2023. That is one data point, not a record of reliability. Ferrari showed the 296 GT3 Evo in 2025 for the 2026 season. If an advert says Evo, or says the car has an Evo update, it is not the specification in this guide, and you should ask exactly what has been fitted.

Is it road legal?

We found nothing in any source we read to say the 296 GT3 can be registered for the road, and everything points the other way. It is a homologated race car with an electronically actuated sequential gearbox, a race chassis and no hybrid system, sold through a racing department. Our catalogue lists it as track only. If a seller suggests a road registration, ask for the paperwork, because we have not seen any. Do not assume that a race car can be insured, taxed or tested for the road in your country.

What to check before buying

• Ask for the chassis number and the full history from Ferrari Competizioni GT, including which teams ran the car and in which series.
• Ask whether the car is the original specification or has had any update, and get the work list in writing.
• Ask for the engine hours, the last engine and gearbox rebuilds, and who carried them out.
• Ask for the accident and repair history. The quick-release front and rear sections make crash repairs easier but they also hide structural repairs, so request photographs.
• Ask what homologation papers come with the car and whether they are current for the series you want to race in.
• Ask what spares, tyres and tools come with it, and who supplies parts, since support runs through Ferrari's customer programme and its partner.
• Budget for transport, trackside support and specialist crew. We found no published running costs for this car, so any figure you are given is an estimate.
• Get an independent inspection by a team that has worked on the car or its predecessor.

Recalls and the DVSA check

We did not run the government checker, because it is built for road vehicles and needs a registration number or a make, model and year, and we are not looking at a specific car. The page says the MOT checking service shows outstanding safety recalls for a vehicle with a registration, while the vehicle recalls checker needs the make, model and year. It also says non-safety recalls come from the manufacturer directly. A track-only race car is unlikely to appear on it at all, so a clean result would tell you nothing. We found no recall notice for the 296 GT3 in any source, and absence from our sources is not a clean bill of health. Ask Ferrari Competizioni GT whether any technical bulletin or mandatory update applies to the chassis you are looking at.

About the photograph

The picture at the top of this page shows a 296 GT3 in a decorative black livery with coloured airflow lines, photographed at a Ferrari dealer in Cannes in 2025 by Alexandre Prevot and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence from Wikimedia Commons. We cropped it to a wide format and resized it. It shows the shape of the car and not any particular owner's car, and we have not checked whether it carries any update, so the car you are viewing may look different.

Verdict

The Ferrari 296 GT3 is a 600 bhp, 710 Nm, rear-wheel drive and mid-engine customer race car built to the GT3 rules, with a dry weight of 1,250 kg and no published 0-100 km/h time or top speed. It is a track-only competition machine, sold and supported by Ferrari, and its true performance is set by the BoP of whichever series it enters. If you are shopping for one, check which specification you are looking at, insist on the full history and homologation papers, treat any speed number you are quoted as unverified, and do not expect road use. We have not driven it, so use the sources and a proper inspection to decide.