360 F1 - Transmission Mode Question

I recently checked out a 2003 360 F1 Spider and had problems putting it into full manual mode. I turned on sport mode (left button by steering wheel) but it was still shifting sluggishly and starting off in gear 2, not 1. After pressing the traction control button and auto button by the reverse lever, it appeared to somehow trigger manual mode and then was shifting fine via the paddles.

What is the correct procedure to put it in full manual mode and secondly is there an option for sport auto (i.e. in auto mode) but more aggressive shifting? Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

Thanks, do you know what the sport button/switch (left side of steering column) does? The car I drove was upshifting around 3-4K rpms even when using the paddles until I fiddled around with the various switches. Does the car have a transmission control module and is this something that could have been causing this behavior if it was going bad?

 

The car just had a major so I'm hoping if there was something wrong, it would have been picked up then. I'll try driving it again.