No further information would be released until family members had been advised and a formal identification has been carried out.
An acquaintance of the man, who did not want to be identified, told Hawke's Bay Today the man was in his 50s and had moved to Hawke's Bay from Australia recently, after spending about 30 years overseas.
He was believed to be the owner of the Ferrari.
The Taupo Motorsport Park was hired privately by the Hawke's Bay Club for their annual track day yesterday.
Mr Dalton said the organisers of the event were experienced motorsport people.
While the Hawke's Bay Club was the facilitator of the event, people raced on the track as individuals.
"It was an incredibly sad ending to the day," Mr Dalton said.
A spokeswoman for the park said the man was a regular user of the track.
Hawke's Bay Club members participating in the track day were required to pay $150 to take part and any car was eligible including classic, vintage, sports cars and family saloons.
Participants were required to wear helmets and fireproof apparel.
The vehicles must be registered, warranted and mechanically safe and the race cars must comply with Motorsport NZ regulations, the club's website states.
The Ferrari 360 Spider was a 400hp vehicle with a top speed of more than 290km/h. It could accelerate from 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds.
The Serious Crash Investigation Unit was investigating the crash on behalf of the coroner, police said.
