Police Finds Ferrari 288 GTO Stolen During Bogus Test Drive

Authorities in Germany have tracked down a Ferrari 288 GTO which was stolen a few days ago during a test drive.

DW reports that police in Dusseldorf found the $2.2 million Ferrari hidden in a garage in the small town of Grevenbroich, but are still on the hunt for the perpetrator and have asked the public to provide any information they may have on the theft. An image of the thief has been circulated throughout the local area and online (below).

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It is reported that the man who stole the car posed as a classic car buyer and arranged a test drive of the car with its owner. The owner of the 288 GTO drove the car for the first part of the test and when the two jumped out to swap seats, the thief sped off in the highly regarded, and valuable, classic.

In the days after the theft, it was revealed that former Formula One driver Eddie Irvine previously owned the car, which inevitably adding to its value and desirability.

Powering the 288 GTO is a 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 pumping out 395 hp and 366 lb-ft (496 Nm) of torque that’s sent to the rear wheels via a manual transmission. Ferrari initially built the car to compete in Group B rallying, but the class was canceled before the Prancing Horse ever had the chance to compete. Thus, they ultimately decided to build 272 examples of the 288 GTO for the road rather than scraping the entire project.