A sports car that was stolen during a test drive in Sydney's north-east on Wednesday night, sparking an erratic high-speed car chase, has been found in the city's west.
The white Audi R8, worth $230,000, was stolen at Seaforth after its owner posted it for sale online and a man contacted him asking to see it.
The 30-year-old man who owned the car was behind the wheel when the "buyer" pulled out a gun and told him to stop, police say.
Superintendent David Darcy from the Northern Beaches Local Area Command said the gun was believed to be a Glock pistol.
"The driver has stopped, the offender has come around to the driver's side, pushed him out of the car and then struck him a number of times with the handgun, so hard in fact that he fell to the ground and suffered some injuries," Superintendent Darcy said.
"The car was then driven off by the offender at speed."
Police began pursuing the car, in a lengthy chase that spanned the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, the inner city, Lane Cove Tunnel and the busy Pennant Hills Road.
Officers called off the pursuit several times because the driver rammed other cars, including a police car, and drove erratically.
They eventually lost sight of the car, and members of the public were urged to call triple zero if they saw it.
The car was discovered on a residential street in Auburn on Thursday afternoon.
Police, including forensic police, are at the scene, where they appear to be photographing the car and dusting it for fingerprints.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said specialist police are investigating the theft.
"The vehicle was located at Auburn this afternoon," the spokeswoman said.
"Investigations are continuing by officers from the State Crime Command's Robbery and Serious Crime Squad. No further information is available at this time."
Vision from Seven News showed the car, which did not appear to be significantly damaged, parked behind another car on the side of Wentworth Street.
The street has been taped off.
Earlier on Thursday, police said they were "reasonably confident" they knew the identity of the person who took the car, and urged him to hand himself in.
with Megan Levy
