A rare racing car driven by Formula 1 legend Juan Manuel Fangio has sold for £17.5m in what is believed to be a record for a car sold at auction.
The Mercedes-Benz W196, in which the five-time world champion clinched his second title, was auctioned at Goodwood Festival of speed.
He drove the Mercedes to victory in the 1954 German and Swiss Grand Prix and was also driven by his teammate Karl Kling in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
The previous world record was set by a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype which went for $16.4m (£10.8m) in 2011.
James Knight, group motoring director at Bonhams, said: “At £19.6m inclusive (commission and taxes), it’s a new world record by some distance.”
Bonhhams said the vehicle was consigned to Daimler-Benz Museum in Germany later that year and exhibited at Le Mans in France, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and Hockenheim in Germany throughout the 1960s.
Potential buyers from three continents had shown interest in the vehicle which was sold in its current condition with noticeable blemishes.
The German-made car was sold to a private buyer over the telephone, Bonhams said.
Argentinean racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio won five world championships, the first being in 1951.
The auction was held to mark the 20 anniversary of the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Chichester in West Sussex.
