SCG owner Jim Glickenhaus has established the Glickenhaus Trophy for the fastest qualifying lap of the Nordschleife at the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
Since the original track layout is no longer used for the current 24 Hours, a rough equivalent is calculated by disregarding the first intermediate split time on the full circuit.
This leaves just the time set on a section of track that is representative of the legendary Nordschleife. This section measures 21.535 kilometres whereas the original Nordschleife layout was 20.832 kilometres.
The intention is to honour the drivers who have set records on the Nordschleife, starting with Stefan Bellof who lapped the “Green Hell” in a record time of 6m11.13s with a Porsche 956 back in 1983 (an average of 202kph), during qualifying for the Nurburgring 1000 kilometres.
From this year, all the fastest qualifying times on the 21.535-kilometre section will be engraved on the Glickenhaus Trophy, together with the team name. At each Nurburgring 24 Hours, it will be returned and handed to the new winner for that season.
The Glickenhaus Trophy was awarded for the first time this year to AMG-Team Black Falcon, whose driver Maro Engel also claimed overall pole position.
This year, the winning time was 6m51.704s en route to an overall qualifying time of 8m14.505s. Jim Glickenhaus presented Engel with the trophy at the official post-qualifying press conference on the Friday before the race start. Engel went on to win the race on Sunday, in the company of his team mates Adam Christodoulou, Manuel Metzger and Bernd Schneider.
The Glickenhaus Trophy itself is an impressive one-metre polished aluminium structure with a carbon fibre base, emblazoned with the SCG logo on the base. The sculpture itself, created by renowned designer Carsten Astheimer to Jim Glickenhaus’s personal specification, is a cup in the shape of the epic Nordschleife layout. During the qualifying session, it was displayed in the pit lane as a reminder to the drivers of the honour at stake.
Jim Glickenhaus said: “The Nordschleife is the most amazing circuit in the world, which attracts some of the best drivers in the world. The Glickenhaus Trophy is our way of honouring them, and also thanking the race organisers for creating this contest and these regulations, which allow our car to take part among some huge names. It’s truly a privilege for us to be here, and this beautiful trophy is a reflection of the huge regard in which we hold the epic Nordschleife circuit, which forms part of motorsport legend, and the Nurburgring 24 Hour race.”
Receiving the trophy, Engel commented: “What a huge honour for me to receive this trophy, on behalf of our team. The Nurburgring 24 Hours is truly a team sport, and I’d like to sincerely thank Jim Glickenhaus and his whole team for giving so much to this event.”
