Three years on from the launch of the SF90 Stradale, and two years after we got out first look at its Spider sister, it looks like Ferrari is getting ready to unveil a new track-ready variant of its V8 hybrid supercar.
Our spy photographers have snapped what appears to be a more extreme version of the SF90 that would crown the series in the same way the Scuderia, Speciale, and Pista did with the F430, 458, and 488 lines.
Ferrari hasn’t acknowledged the identity of this development car or even confirmed that it’s working on a more hardcore SF90, but knowing what we know about Ferrari model cycles, and lineups, it was only a matter of time until the all-wheel-drive V8 hybrid supercar lifted its game to attract buyers for whom even an SF90 with the available Assetto Fiorano package isn’t exciting or exclusive enough.
Though this prototype is wearing plenty of disguise around the nose, we can still make out a revised bumper design with a split lower section and a large splitter mounted below. Above the bumper, we can see a makeshift scoop that looks Ferrari has grafted on a Cowl-Induction hood from a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. We suspect that disguises a cutout in the frunk lid’s leading edge that allows air drawn in through the lower bumper intakes to escape, as was the case with the 488 Pista.
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This car doesn’t seem to have received any major changes to the rear, but going on what we’ve seen from previous Pista/Speciale cars, we can expect it to receive a different rear exhaust exit point, new bumpers, and a more pronounced diffuser.
Yellow warning stickers confirm that this car is a hybrid, which suggests it will keep the SF90’s basic powertrain setup that comprises a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 engine and single electric motor at the rear, and two more electric motors in the nose driving the front axle.
The stock SF90 already makes 769 hp (780 PS) from its gas motor and 217 hp (220 PS) from its EV setup for a total of 986 hp (1,000 PS), but you can expect that number to climb far past a true 1,000 hp (1,104 PS) for a track-ready variant, and to amplify that boost by reducing the curb weight below even the Assetto Fiorano version’s 3,461 lbs (1,570 kg) dry weight though further use of lightweight materials.
The other possibility, of course, is that we’re looking at some kind of early prototype for Ferrari’s next-generation Challenge series. Though cars like the 488 Challenge were track-only machines, Ferrari was caught testing examples on the road. But this car’s conventional glass windows (the Challenge cars use Perspex), suggest it’s very much a road-legal, but track-ready model.
We might get to see the finished version of this car unveiled later in 2022 after Ferrari has taken the wraps off its Purosangue SUV, but perhaps more likely is that Ferrari will save the unveil until spring of 2023 to give the by-then aging SF90 a useful exposure boost.
