The headline class in the GT battle at January’s Daytona 24 Hours is GT3 and the highlight will be the appearance of new cars from Porsche and Ferrari. We looked at the engine of the Porsche GT3 contender in the September instalment of the log; here we consider the rival Ferrari.

The Ferrari 296 GT3 is derived from the marque’s 296 GTB production car, using its 3.0 litre V6 twin turbo. This Tipo 163 is the first Ferrari road-going V6 since the Dino of the 1960s and early ’70s, and thus its first ever production V6 to be turbocharged. It has a 120 degree bank angle, which is beneficial in terms of locating the turbos in the valley (‘hot side inside’) and offers smooth running, even fire operation.

The Tipo 163 is a compact all-aluminium twin overhead camshaft, 24-valve unit with direct injection using a fuel pressure of 350 bar. Each cylinder’s injector and spark plug are centrally located, and the valves are driven through roller-equipped finger followers. Each bank has an individual chain drive for its twin camshafts, while there is another chain drive for the ancillaries on the timing end.

Bore of 88 mm and stroke of 82 mm provide a displacement of 2992 cc. In its production guise, this 9.4:1 compression ratio engine was designed to run to 8500 rpm developing maximum power of 654 bhp at 8000 rpm and maximum torque of 740 Nm at 6250 rpm. In the road car it is married to an electrical drive, which GT3 regulations do not permit.

For GT3 the Tipo 163 engine has been lightened, strengthened and detuned. Depending on the Balance of Performance it is anticipated it will output 600 bhp at 7250 rpm with maximum torque of 710 Nm at 5500 rpm. GT3 regulations allow the engine to be mounted lower and further forward and to be married to a bespoke gearbox, which is an Xtrac transverse six-speed sequential unit.