It's a wonder really that there are enough days in the year to accommodate all these Nurburgring 'lap record' runs - perhaps now the track is rented for half a day at a time, or the manufacturers share the rental and alternate laps.
Anyway, just a few days after that Porsche lap, Alfa has returned to the 'ring with a V6-engined flagship and a jazzily-helmeted Italian. While Fabio Francia is the (mad) man on driving duty again, this time it's the Stelvio - rather than the Giulia - Quadrifoglio tacking the 20km track.
The time? 7:51.7, which is fast for anything, leave alone a chunky, high-riding SUV. Indeed Alfa Romeo is claiming this is the fastest production sports utility vehicle to ever lap the track, claiming the record by a few seconds from the Cayenne Turbo S of a few years back. Of course there's a new Cayenne just out however...
Yes, it's a niche record and, yes, the relevance of the Nurburgring will be debated until the end of time, but hopefully we can all agree on the welcome return of Alfa taking performance cars seriously. There's no doubt that the fast SUV is a key market nowadays so, while it might not be Alfa heartland, its punchy approach deserves to reap reward. Who knows, maybe if they sell a few of these the money will be available to sort the 4C out...
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