Today, on the occasion of the glamorous Montreux Grand Prix event in Switzerland Ferrari will unveil a special edition of the 612 Scaglietti, the 612 GP, limited to just 9 units and which celebrates the historic Swiss Grand Prix.

The 2+2 seater V12-engined 612 Scaglietti "Grand Tourer" has seen a swage of strictly limited edition special versions arriving on the radar over the last year: Pininfarina created a subtly modified car - dubbed the 612 Kappa - especially for a US collector which was presented at Villa d'Este; Ferrari GB revealed a special version created in conjunction with Wallpaper* magazine at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month; and Cornes & Co. - the official Japanese Ferrari importer - commissioned a unique run to celebrate its 40th anniversary as Ferrari's agents. On top of this Ferrari introduced a one-off "612 Pebble Beach" at last year's famous Californian Concours d'Elegance which introduced bi-colour paint to the car for the first time, ahead of the debut of this option as part of the Personalisation Programme at the Detroit Motor Show in January. And like this car, the 612 GP (which features bi-colour paint, although in a new and different style) has been created by the factory, reviving a tradition of coachbuilt cars coming from the Maranello stable that stretches back to the evocative 375 MM driven Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman.

The 612 GP programme was the result of an idea by new Swiss Ferrari boss Giulio Zauner to celebrate Ferrari's 40th anniversary in Switzerland and the anniversary of their first Swiss Grand Prix win in 1949. The dark grey car - of which 9 will be built - features, the HGTC handling package (including carbon-ceramic brakes) bi-colour paint treatment with the 612 Scaglietti's famous side "scallops" finished in a silver-grey colour and colour-coded brake calipers. Inside the opulent interior is finished in a very eye-catching red and grey trim, with the lower dashboard, seat front sections, central tunnel sides, door panels and lower half of the sports steering wheel all glistening in an eye-catching red. A special plaque, imprinted with an outline of the historic Berne track, stamps on the 612 GP its unique feel.
 

The historic Swiss Grand Prix in fact took place at Bremgarten, a race circuit near to Bern, on 14 occasions from 1934-39, and then after a seven year break during the course of World War II, it ran from 1947-54 before the Swiss authorities banned motor racing completely in the country after the fatal crash at the 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours at which 8- people died. Since the motorsport has officially been banned with the Swiss people turning to events such as the Montreux Grand Prix to see racing cars in albeit non-competitive action. After 9 non-championship Grands Prix, last five editions were part of the FIA F1 World Championship. (A Swiss Grand Prix was also held in 1982, over the border in France at Dijon). Ferrari won the Swiss GP three times: Alberto Ascari (1949 and 1953) and Piero Taruffi (1952). In fact the last seven editions before it was cancelled were won by Italian cars as Alfa Romeo won the event with Jean-Pierro Wimille (1947), Count Felice Trossi (1948), Nino Farina (1950) and Juan-Manuel Fangio (1951). The other editions were claimed by Mercedes and Auto-Union, while the 1982 race was won by Keke Rosberg in a Williams-Ford.

The special new Ferrari 612 Scaglietti will be the centrepiece of a veritable feast of Ferraris taking part in the Montreux Grand Prix this year, the Maranello sportscar maker being the focus of the celebrations. Contemporary Ferraris though will be represented not only be this new 612 Scaglietti edition but by the new FXX "track only" special, with several of the 800+bhp machines, of which only 29 are being built, taking to the street circuit. Also in action will be the F430 Challenge, the new racing car that forms the backbone of Ferrari's popular Pirelli-sponsored race series' in Italy, Europe and the USA.

The categories in Montreux will focus around the Prancing Horse brand and will include eleven different classes taking to the track. These will be split up into Series 1 (V8: 308, 328, 348 and 355); Series 2 and 3 (V12: Testarossa, 512, 412, 550 Maranello, 575 M Maranello, 456 GT, Superamerica and 612 Scaglietti); Series 4 (V8: 360 Modena and Spider); Series 5 (V8: F430 Challenge); Series 6 (V8/V12: F40, F50, 288 GTO and Enzo); Series 7 and 8 (Historic, 1950 to 1975, 1st Group: Lusso, Daytona, 365BB, Dino, 212 and 250 GT); Series 9 (Historic, 1960 to 1966, 2nd Group: 250 GT, 250 SWB/Lusso, 275 GTB2/GTB4 and 250 Testarossa); Series 10 (Grand Prix cars 1928-1960); and finally Series 11 (Formula 1: Scuderia Ferrari; Prototypes: FXX and F430 Challenge). As usual three large paddocks will hold the swage of stunning machines taking part, open for the public to examine while the usual stalls, restaurants and bars will help to create a stunning atmosphere.