It was another successful finish for Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus at the Nurburgring this weekend, as the Italian-based American team finished second in its class at the legendary Nordschleife during the latest round of the VLN series.
‘Macchinadue’ – the second car of the production run – was 10th overall after four hours of racing, crewed by Germany’s Thomas Mutsch, American driver Jeff Westphal and Englishman Jethro Bovingdon: a respected journalist and racer who writes for the world-renowned ‘Evo’ magazine.
Despite little preparation time, the crew steadily moved up the order from their original 12th on the grid, having faced conditions that included freezing temperatures and fog over the course of the weekend.
Their team mates in ‘Macchinauno’ – Germany’s Manuel Lauck, Frenchman Franck Mailleux, and Sweden’s Andreas Simonsen – were not classified after the car stopped in the closing stages, having had repairs lasting nearly an hour following a collision on the opening lap.
However, both crews fulfilled their objectives of testing different aspects of the car in preparation for next year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours: the current main focus of competition for Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.
At one point, ‘Macchinadue’ was running as high as second overall in the race, while ‘Macchinauno’ had also gone second-fastest overall in the closing stages of qualifying, before being relegated to sixth as track conditions improved for its rivals.
These included some prestigious factory entries such as the latest works Porsche 911 – which ‘Macchinauno’ beat by a tenth of a second in qualifying over the 25-kilometre circuit. This was the only car to beat the SCG003C in its class, driven by one of this year’s Le Mans winners.
Crossing the line for ‘Macchinadue’ on Saturday was Bovingdon, who took the wheel for the final stint and did an excellent job all weekend, despite his unfamiliarity with the car.
He said: “It was a brilliant feeling to take the car to the finish and I really enjoyed driving it all weekend. I didn’t get the chance to have much time in it before we started, but it felt easy to drive and comfortable straight away. A huge thanks to the team for letting me experience this incredible car. ”
Mailleux, who did the final stint with ‘Macchinauno’ added: “We didn’t get the result we might have wanted with our car, but from the beginning it was all about development, so that we can improve the car still further for the future. We improve our level at every race.”
The latest result marks Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus’s second consecutive top-10 finish at the Nurburgring, having taken the class win as well on its last outing in September.
Chris Ruud, the owner/driver of ‘Macchinadue’, commented: “We go from strength to strength, having completed a very busy testing schedule all weekend that includes work on tyres, aerodynamics and suspension. Congratulations to all our drivers and especially Jethro, who we were delighted to welcome from Evo magazine. He didn’t put a foot wrong from start to finish and we are so happy to have given him this experience.”