RM Sotheby’s has announced that its biennial Monaco sale on May 12, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, will feature a flawlessly maintained 1978 Ferrari 308GTSthat was originally gifted to Scuderia Ferrari team driver Gilles Villeneuve by Enzo Ferrari. It will be joined by two race-driven 1990s F1 cars, a 1992 Benetton B192-Ford driven by Michael Schumacher in the Spanish Grand Prix, and a 1999 Jordan 199-Mugen, driven to 2ndplace in that year’s Australian Grand Prix by Heinz Harald Frentzen.
Villeneuve received the 308 GTS at the start of his six-year association with Scuderia Ferrari in 1977, while the French-Canadian was in Europe for Formula One competition and training. With just 36,000 kilometers on its odometer, the car remains in highly original condition, and includes several features differentiating it from the standard production 308 GTS — likely installed by the factory when new. Used regularly by Villeneuve, legend has it that he would often drive it from his Monaco home to Ferrari’s Italian base in Maranello — a distance of 432 kilometers — and that he once completed the journey in just 2 hours and 25 minutes, for an average speed of more than 110mph!
“The 308 has been kept almost as it was since the last day Gilles drove it,” noted Augustin Sabatié-Garat, Auction Manager, RM Sotheby’s Europe. “As a gift from Enzo, to one of Ferrari’s most revered drivers, this car represents a celebrated era of motorsport. It’s not just the highly original condition of the car that is important, as the signed documents, brochures and pictures that come with it only add to its sentimental value. This is a collectible car from a classic era of Grand Prix racing, and is evocative of Gilles Villeneuve as we remember him, a great character and huge personality.”
For further information please visit www.rmsothebys.com
