By using a white primer, the paint colours used will tend to be bright and stand out. The paint will also take on a deeper colour as more layers of the same colour are used.
Most cars have grey primer underneath the coats of paint. Using grey does mute or subdue the paint color to some degree.
Using a primer that is close to the color of your choice (in this case red) will allow for some mistakes -such as poorly coated areas- because the primer will "cover up" and mask the areas. This does not mean, however, that the finished color will necessarily be nicer. At times it may also create more mistakes and missed areas because the primer color is so close to the paint color.
Personally, i would go with a slightly darker grey primer to get as close of a match to the original as possible.
Dont forget to use cellulose primer if you will be painting in cellulose. I made the mistake of using celulose primer for 2k paint. failed spectacularly