In what Alfa Romeo believe is a world’s first, the Hinwil-based side are selling the showcar that was used to present their 2023 livery, with the car expected to fetch around £400k at auction.
Alfa Romeo launched their 2023 challenger on Tuesday morning via the F1 Authentics platform, with the car that was seen currently on sale at auction.
The C43 display car which showed the team’s new dark-red and black livery, was built by UK-based sports memorabilia specialist Memento Exclusives, who are set to build several display C43’s throughout the forthcoming season.
Team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi has labelled the show car being sold as a “piece of history”, with the Italian being intrigued over how much “interest it will generate”.
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“The philosophy behind our launch has been to bring fans closer to the team, and auctioning this showcar fits within this narrative,” said Alunni Bravi, as reported by Formula1.com.
“As our launch car, this C43 showcar is a piece of history and the first step in what is hopefully going to be a successful season for our team.
“The success of last year’s C42 showcar, the first ever produced, is what spurred us on to create another great piece of memorabilia with Memento Exclusive, and I’m looking forward to seeing the interest it will generate.”
Memento Exclusives CEO and founder Barry Gough added how “pleased” the company is to be able to offer collectors a “phenomenal piece of history”, that will certainly stand-out in any car collection.
“We are pleased to be able to continue our partnership with Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake in 2023, kicking off the year with the launch of the C43 Show Car.
“This brilliant piece of engineering has been built in-house and will be used by the F1 team for their official car launch. It will then be available on our F1 Authentics platform, in an exciting auction that will allow collectors to own this phenomenal piece of history.
“Our partnership with the team has only grown stronger and will continue to allow us to not only be the official supplier of Alfa Romeo Show Cars, but also to sell official F1 memorabilia from the team too.”
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It was revealed on Thursday morning on Reddit that the highest bid currently is £83,000, with 20 bids having so far been made.
The auction is set to end at 3am GMT on February 21, by at which point the winning bid will likely be closer to the expected £400k.
As well as the showcar, the winning bidder will also receive the race suits and boots worn by Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu at the launch, as an added bonus!