The event was organised by Ferrari Australia to celebrate its sixtieth birthday and leading the cars out in a 458 Spider was Marc Gené, the Catalan driver who works with the Maranello marque’s owners on racing and promotional activities.

Gené in fact was last seen in action in Melbourne celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Ferrari itself by driving a Ferrari F1 car along the city's Lygon Street. The Australian Grand Prix parade this morning was the debut event to launch a year of celebrations of Ferrari’s 1952 arrival in Australia.

“It was great to see so much enthusiasm on the faces of all the Ferrari fans around the track,” said Gené afterwards. “Even this far away from Italy, the Prancing Horse is very popular and it was great for me to be able to represent it at a special event like this.” Around sixty cars too part in the entertaining show, from a 1960s 250 GTO to the Ferrari FF, along with the car Scuderia Ferrari used to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship back in 1987. The owners and friends of Ferrari found themselves driving the cars in the sunny weather which returned to Melbourne today.

The 458 Spider was also making its Australian debut this weekend ahead of a mid-year arrival in the showrooms. The 458 Spider has a recommended retail price in Australia of $590,000 excluding statutory charges, dealer costs and delivery. Expressions of interest have ensured that approximately the first 18 months of production are already spoken for and the first customer cars will arrive in the middle of 2012.