Ferrari contracted Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara to assist with the 333 SP's development. Dallara provided the transmission and suspension, handled aerodynamic development, and constructed the bodywork, using Hewland mechanical parts housed within a custom Dallara casing for the gearbox. Ferrari developed the chassis tub and engine in-house.
The engine was a modified version of the 65-degree V12 used in the 1990 Ferrari 641 Formula One car, enlarged from 3.5 litres to 4.0 litres and producing 641 horsepower at 11,000 rpm. British race car engineering consultant Tony Southgate joined the project in early 1994 and helped design and run the cars through the end of 1995. Southgate later described the powerplant as "one of the most reliable race engines I have ever worked with."
A total of 40 chassis were built across three manufacturers: the first four by Ferrari, then eleven by Dallara, and the remaining twenty-six by Michelotto. Of those, approximately 27 chassis are believed to have been raced between 1994 and 2003.
The 333 SP debuted at Road Atlanta in the third round of the 1994 IMSA GT Championship, immediately securing the first two places. Four cars were distributed across three teams: Euromotorsport, Momo Corse, and Team Scandia. Despite taking additional podiums through the season, Ferrari had missed the opening rounds at Daytona and Sebring, and Oldsmobile ultimately claimed the makes' championship.
The 1995 season brought decisive improvement. The 333 SP claimed top honours at the 12 Hours of Sebring and secured four further wins. Fermín Velez won the drivers' title, with Mauro Baldi and Wayne Taylor taking third and fourth. Ferrari also won the makes' championship. The car made its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year but was not immediately competitive; its best result at Le Mans came in 1997 with sixth place overall, and the Risi Competizione entry won the LMP1 class in its first appearance there the following year.
In 1996, the 333 SP tied with Oldsmobile in the constructors' standings but lost on a tiebreaker. By 1997, increasing competition from the more modern Riley and Scott chassis limited Ferrari to four wins and second place in the makes' championship.
From 1998, the car found new life in the International Sports Racing Series (later known as the FIA Sportscar Championship), where it won every race and dominated the championship. Emmanuel Collard and Vincenzo Sospiri took the title, with Didier Theys and Fredy Lienhard as runners-up. In American competition, the 333 SP won three IMSA rounds including Sebring and brought Wayne Taylor to second in the standings while Ferrari won the makes' title. The car also finally won at Daytona in the rival USRRC Can-Am championship that year.
From 1999, the 333 SP concentrated on European competition as factory-backed Audi and BMW entries dominated the newly formed American Le Mans Series. In Europe, Collard and Sospiri repeated as ISRS champions, and Christian Pescatori followed in 2000 with David Terrien, giving JMB Racing-entered Ferraris three consecutive European titles.
As the design aged, the 333 SP became increasingly uncompetitive against newer machinery. In 2000, Doran Racing fitted a Judd engine in an attempt to extend its competitiveness in the ALMS. By 2001, no Ferrari prototype raced in the ALMS full-time, though the Risi Competizione entry made occasional Grand-Am appearances. Doran Racing's Judd-powered 333 SP won the 2001 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, and Marco Zadra won the 2001 FIA Sportscar Championship, but the car was no longer dominant.
The 333 SP made scattered appearances in 2002 and 2003 with Judd power under the GLV-Brums banner of Giovanni Lavaggi, before making its final competitive appearance at the 2003 500km of Monza.
The Ferrari 333 SP represented a pivotal chapter in Ferrari's return to prototype racing, combining a Formula One-derived V12 engine with a purpose-built sports car chassis at a time when Ferrari had been absent from top-level sportscar competition for two decades. Its success in North America during the mid-1990s, particularly the IMSA championships and the 12 Hours of Sebring victories, re-established Ferrari as a force in endurance racing and paved the way for the marque's later GT programmes.