Got RM6 million to spare? Two of Alfa Romeo's greatest 90's racing cars are up for sale

Are you a diehard fan of Alfa Romeo with cash to spare? Well, get those cheques ready as the brand’s two most iconic touring cars are going up for sale – 1994 Alfa Romeo 155 TS BTCC and 1996 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI.

Not only are both cars from the golden era of touring car racing, but they were driven by the two drivers who have become synonymous with the Alfa Romeo racers of the era, Gabriele Tarquini and Nicola Larini. 

The history of Gabriele Tarquini's 1994 Alfa Romeo 155 TS BTCC

Resplendent in Alfa Red, the 155 TS BTCC was Tarquini’s steed for the 1994 British Touring Car Championship and perhaps one of the most controversial cars of the season.

Early on Alfa Romeo had found a loophole in the homologation regulations. The regulations required manufacturers to produce 2500 road-going variants of a similar specification for the public.

Alfa Romeo obliged with the 155 Silverstone edition, which came with a higher adjustable rear wing packed into its boot that owners can choose to install.

Through this clever sleight of hand, the Alfa Corse works team could run the BTCC cars with an extended rear wing when the season started. To hide their ploy, the team used a retracted rear wing during pre-season testing.

With its downforce advantage, Tarquini dominated the first five races before other teams lodged complaints with the FIA. Eventually, Alfa Corse and the FIA came to a compromise with the team only allowed to run the contentious rear wing till the eighth round before being required to use a lower retracted rear wing.

Despite the aerodynamic disadvantage, and other BTCC teams developing their own ‘loophole’ homologation specials, Tarquini managed to put up a consistent performance to retain his lead in the early part of the season to clinch the driver’s and manufacturer’s championship.

Alfa Corse used Tarquini’s winning 155 as a pre-season testing mule for the following season but later reverted it to 1994-spec before being presented as a gift to him.

Due to the FIA’s later efforts to close any loopholes and increase the road car homologation minimum to 25,000 for 1995, Alfa Corse passed on its BTCC racing effort to ProDrive and switched their focus towards DTM.

The history of Nicola Larini's 1996 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), renowned as Germany's pre-eminent racing car series, often features a whole line-up of German race cars. So, it is ironic that the winningest car of the series is this, the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI.

This example, draped in the iconic Martini Racing colours, is the final iteration of Alfa Romeo’s 155 race cars, which campaigned in the final season of the original DTM with 1993 DTM champ, Nicola Larini at the helm.

As it is with DTM cars of the era, there is nothing road-going about the 155 V6 TI. It was closer to an F1 car in its design underneath, with a carbon-fibre safety cell, an F1-style inboard suspension system, and a 497 PS V6 that redlines at 11,900rpm.

With all-wheel drive and a six-speed semi-sequential Xtrac gearbox, the car is reportedly able to go from 0 -100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and pass 300 km/h on the straights.

Unfortunately, this 155 V6 TI only managed two wins out of the team’s ten wins of the season. A far cry from Larini’s dominant 11 wins out of 22 races of the 1993 season.

Nevertheless, thanks to its late-season pace, Alfa Romeo finished off the final DTM season ahead of Mercedes-Benz and just nine points behind season winner, Opel. Not an ideal fairytale end, but good enough for an unlikely DTM race car icon.

Both cars will be part of RM Sotheby’s Milan Auction, with the red 155 TS BTCC car valued between €300,000 and €400,000 (RM1.5 million to RM2 million). As for the 155 V6 TI, it's estimated to fetch around €700,000 to €800,000 (RM3.5 million to RM4 million).