Messi’s Audi R8 is up for auction in Monte-Carlo

FC Barcelona partner since 2006, Audi isn’t skimpy on gifts to Blaugrana. Every year, each player in the Catalan workforce chooses a catalog model before a collective handing-over. This season, the SUV Q7 was given to the players, 16 out of 22 opting for this model. Others try to stand out, like Brazilian striker Neymar Jr. and his RS7 Sportback with a V8 4.0 TFSI engine with 600 horsepower. If his team-mate and striker Lionel Messi entered the range with a Q7, he stands out for his love of beautiful cars. One of them, an Audi R8 V10 in blue, on loan from Audi in 2015, is about to go under the hammer in Monaco.

On 1 July, the Monte-Carlo auction house will carry out its third session devoted to cars, motorbikes and boats. Among the 100 lots is this old car from the talented Argentinian. Considered to be the best football player of all times, Messi is also a car enthusiast and the loss of this Audi R8 won’t disrupt the extensive collection in his garage.

Estimated between €200,000 and €240,000

His collection also includes a Cadillac Escalade, a Lexus LX 570, a Range Rover Evoque, Audi Q5 and Q7, a Maserati Gran Turismo MC Stradale, a Ferrari F430 Spider, a Dodge Charger SRT8 … and, according to Spanish media: the Ferrari 335S Spider Scaglietti from 1957 sold for more than 32 million euros at the auction last year. A race car driven by Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant during the 1957 24 Hour Le Mans. Legend has it that Messi (according to the Catalan media) outbid his Portuguese rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, during these same auctions.

In short, separating from this R8 should not be an overwhelming heartbreak. Expert of the sale and president of the Automobile Classic Cars Club in Nice, Tom Brault, has already had to struggle to remove the car from the market. “It’s an atypical lot and because of our relationship, which is at the heart of what allowed us to forcibly extract it from a parallel market. It had already been sold to an Asian collector, but through discussions with the Barcelona club, we were able to recover it. It is supplied with all official Audi documents.” HVMC estimates its value to be between 200,000 to 240,000 euros.

Christian Estrosi’s motorcycle

Tom Brault’s ambitions at the third event of its kind for the Monte-Carlo auction house are a force of nature. After a first tentative attempt and a second more conclusive one (and the first with Tom Brault as expert), HVMC has changed its relationship this summer by presenting 100 lots in front of the Yacht Club. “We present vehicles with history. A large Cadillac, an old car from the French mafia….Christian Estrosi’s competition motorcycle from 1978 which wasn’t used for a long time (estimated at between 75,000-85,000 euros)….A car from the former Belgian colonies.” And, another highlight of the show: a Porsche 911 964 RSR 3.8 estimated between 1 and 1.2 million euros. “An RSR like this one, with only 50 produced, was bought for 2 million euros a few days ago in Italy…”, underlined Tom Brault. A self-taught expert who claims not to have the lure of profit as an obsession. “We’re really putting on quality and history. We do not want to play with prices, which often creates a lack of competition.”