One to Buy: the ex-Enrico Capitanio / Harry Leventis 1988 Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione
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Had the highly anticipated Group B circuit racing battle developed as the FIA hoped, Ferrari’s 288 GTO Evoluzione would have gone head-to-head with the Porsche 959-based 961.
Unfortunately though, the Porsche’s arrival was massively delayed by which time Ferrari had elected to abort any Group B challenge with the 288; off-the-shelf availability of Porsche’s much faster Group C 956 / 962 and the lack of competition in the Group B category convinced the chiefs at Ferrari the programme would serve no useful purpose.
Instead, having easily sold the 200 homologation specials required for Group B, the Maranello firm decided to use the GTO Evoluzione as the basis for a 288 successor: the F40.
Five cars plus a prototype based on a standard GTO chassis were ultimately completed with assembly and development handled on Ferrari’s behalf by Michelotto in Padova.
Currently on offer at the Tom Harley Jnr. showroom is one of those five cars: chassis 79887.
Supplied new to Style Auto publisher and Padova resident, Enrico Capitanio, chassis 79887 was famously used for a heavily publicised track test at Imola and from 1990 shared garage space in Capitanio’s collection with an F40 LM (88524).
In 1998, chassis 79887 was sold to major British collector, Harry Leventis.
Today, this exceptionally rare experimental Ferrari is offered in superb condition throughout complete with UK road registration.
