Alfa Romeo began developing the Tipo 33 family in the early 1960s, with the first prototype completed in 1965 and sent to Autodelta for refinement. The original T33 used a 1,995 cc V8 engine rated at 270 hp, mounted in a large-diameter tube frame mid-engine layout. Its 1967 debut season in the World Sportscar Championship was largely unsuccessful, with the car unreliable and uncompetitive against established rivals; its best result was a fifth place at the Nürburgring 1000.
The T33/2 addressed many of those shortcomings. Autodelta developed the evolution model for 1968, and a road-going derivative — the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale — was also introduced alongside it.
The T33/2's most prominent early result came at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where Udo Schütz and Nino Vaccarella won the 2-litre class outright. The Porsche 907 with 2.2-litre engines dominated the overall race, but Alfa's performance against the class opposition was convincing enough that the car earned the nickname "Daytona" in recognition of the result.
At the Targa Florio, Nanni Galli and Ignazio Giunti won their class and also took second place overall, a strong result on the demanding Sicilian road circuit. Teammates Lucien Bianchi and Mario Casoni also finished, adding further depth to Alfa's performance. Galli and Giunti then won the 2-litre class again at the Nürburgring 1000 km. A 2.5-litre version of the V8 engine — displacing 2,462 cc — was also introduced at the Nürburgring, known as the T33/2 Daytona 2.5 Litre; Schütz and Bianchi brought it home fourth in the 3.0-litre class on its first outing.
Despite these class wins, in most races the Alfa Romeo drivers were outpaced by Porsche entries using larger engines. The T33/2 was used mainly by privateer teams through much of the season, who collected further class victories at the 1000 km of Monza, the Targa Florio, and the Nürburgring races. Alfa Romeo finished third in the 1968 International Championship for Makes.
A total of 28 cars were built during 1968, allowing the T33/2 to be homologated as a Group 4 Sports Car for the 1969 season. The production run gave privateers continued access to a competitive 2-litre class machine.
The 2,462 cc V8 engine also found application in Australian and international open-wheel racing. Alec Mildren Racing, run by Australia's official Alfa Romeo importer at the time, obtained the engines through Autodelta connections and fitted them to both a Brabham BT23E and the team's own Mildren Mono. Driver Kevin Bartlett won the Australian Drivers' Championship in both 1968, using the Brabham, and 1969, using the Mono, powered by the Tipo 33 V8. In the 1969 season the Alfa V8 alternated with an Australian-built Waggott 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine depending on circuit characteristics, with the Alfa used at power circuits and the Waggott at tighter tracks. Bartlett and Formula One driver Frank Gardner also drove the Alfa V8s in the 1968 and 1969 Tasman Series. Bartlett further used the Mildren Mono-Alfa Romeo to win the 1969 Macau Grand Prix, run for Formula Libre cars — the first Italian engine to win at Macau.
The T33/2 restored Alfa Romeo's competitive credibility in sports car racing after the difficult debut season of the original Tipo 33. Its class victories at Daytona, the Targa Florio, and the Nürburgring demonstrated genuine speed, and the "Daytona" nickname attached to the car became part of Alfa's racing heritage. The car's V8 engine proved versatile enough to power championship-winning single-seaters in Australia, extending Alfa's influence well beyond the European endurance calendar. The T33/2 laid the groundwork for the more powerful T33/3 that would follow.
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