Ferrari 335 up for auction – with an estimate of £24m

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A new challenger has emerged for the title of most expensive car in history, in the form of this 1957 Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti, which is set to be auctioned in Paris this afternoon.

Current estimates predict it will sell for around $34.7m (£24m), but it's not out of the question that it could eclipse the $38m (£26.3m) paid for a Ferrari 250 GTO at auction in 2014 – currently the highest price ever paid for a car at auction.

According to Auto Express, the 335 has "a real chance at taking the crown" as it's not uncommon for cars as rare as this to sell vastly over their estimates.

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If the hammer does fall at $34.7m, it will be the second most expensive car sold at auction, taking its place on a list dominated by Ferraris from the same period.

Bumping up the price is the car's motorsport pedigree – it competed at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. Drivers including Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn and Sir Stirling Moss have taken 335s into competition with some success.

Autoblog says this particular one started out life as a 315 S, before Ferrari exchanged its 3.8-litre V12 for a larger 4.1 litre unit, generating nearly 400bhp. With this engine, it led the 1957 Le Mans 24 hours and set a new lap record, although mechanical problems meant it finished in fifth place.

In 1970, it was sold to noted Ferrari collector Pierre Bardinon – a man Enzo Ferrari once said collected so many cars, he did the job of cataloguing classic Ferraris for him.

The potentially record-breaking Ferrari should be "the absolute nuts", Top Gear says, but also highlight several other interesting vehicles expected to fetch big money at the Artcurial Motorcars Retromobile auction today.

The car goes up for action just weeks after a 1956 Ferrari 290 MM driven by Juan Manuel Fangio was sold for $28 million (£18.5 million) at an auction in New York, becoming the third most expensive car ever.