Nine sports car drivers from the US, Canada, Britain and China were held in custody on Tuesday after Swiss police stopped them doing up to 200 kilometres (120 miles) an hour on a motorway, they said.

Zurich police were investigating whether they had engaged in an illegal road race with hazardous overtaking.

The speedsters had left Milan for Paris and were hurtling along a Swiss motorway when police stopped them late Monday. The Swiss speed limit is 120 kilometres an hour on motorways.

The luxury roadsters — German, Italian and British makes registered in Britain and Italy — were impounded. Some had been rented, police said.

The drivers were quoted by police as saying they had just been driving fast for the pleasure of it and had been planning to stop overnight in Mulhouse in eastern France before continuing to Paris on Tuesday.

Their names were not released.

AFP