Alfonso de Portago’s Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizone ‘Tour de France’ to headline RM Sotheby’s Paris auction

London, England  – RM Sotheby’s will return to its traditional home at the Louvre Palace’s Salles du Carrousel on January 28, 2026 for the 13^th running of Europe’s premier collector car auction in Paris, and will feature one of the most significant competition Ferraris of all time.

The auction will be led by the 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione 'Tour de France' by Scaglietti, a car which placed 1st overall at the 1956 Tour de France Automobile and is the the actual car that instituted the “Tour de France/TdF” nomenclature; raced and owned by the legendary Marquis Alfonso de Portago, it is the fifth of only seven Scaglietti-bodied first-series competition berlinettas.

One of the finest sports competition Ferraris ever created, the model experienced its greatest success at the Tour de France Auto in September, a six-day rally of hill climbs, drag races, and circuit competitions where in 1956 this chassis was piloted by a flamboyant and daring Marquis de Portago, Godson of Alfonso XIII, who reigned as the king of Spain for nearly 50 years until the 1930s. Portago was recruited as a Ferrari driver in early 1956 and in September of that year he won the Tour de France Automobile in chassis number 0557GT—the first of four consecutive victories for the mighty 250 GT Berlinetta model at the French race—with his victory establishing both the legend and the TdF namesake. This historic car is offered on the 70^th anniversary of its most famous victory.

Chassis 0557GT, the most important Tour de France example of the long-wheelbase 250 GT, is the ninth of 14 first-series cars and the seventh of only nine to be clothed in Scaglietti’s louvre-less coachwork. Sold to de Portago on April 23, 1956, the car took some months to prepare, with original build sheets showing the specification of the rear axle on August 28 and the powerful Tipo 128B engine on September 10. Registered with Italian tags reading BO 69211 and wearing race number 73, the car was ready to take on Europe’s most difficult endurance race of the 1950s/60s. Following the car’s famous victory in the Tour de France Auto, de Portago drove the Berlinetta to a 1st overall finish at the Coupes du Salon at Montlhéry, while two weeks later the car achieved a 1st in class finish at the Rome Grand Prix. Portago’s final triumph in this car came the following year at the Coupes USA on April 7, where he once again took 1st overall, achieving an undefeated period competition history for this chassis.

Chassis 0557GT has passed through the hands of a number of highly respected Ferrari collectors, and has further enhanced its provenance with a 1^st in class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1994, becoming the only known Ferrari chassis to achieve a perfect period competition history and a 1^st in class at Pebble Beach. In January 2026 the car was awarded Red Book certification by Ferrari Classiche, and was confirmed to be a fully matching-numbers example having retained its original engine, gearbox, rear axle, and bodywork.

About RM Sotheby’s - RM Sotheby’s is the world's largest collector car auction house by total sales. With over 40 years of proven results in the collector car industry, RM’s vertically integrated range of services, from auctions (live and online) and private sales to estate planning and financial services, coupled with an expert team of Car Specialists and an international footprint, provide an unsurpassed level of service to the global collector car market. RM Sotheby’s is currently responsible for six of the top ten most valuable motor cars ever sold at auction. rmsothebys.com

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