Glickenhaus : "We race for our fans, for the Ring, for the challenge, and for underdogs around the world" 

It is wonderful to be back racing with our Team and the fans at the Nürburgring. For the last several years, we have been developing our 004 - changing, testing, searching for all the lessons we can learn, and making changes millimeter by millimeter. Our years of improvements are adding up. Two years ago, we debuted the Glickenhaus 004C at Nürburgring and qualified in the top 30 by a few spaces. Last year we squeezed into the top 20. This year we were running a pace that was within 5 seconds or so from the top cars, a huge step up over the last two years. We were running in the top 15 leading up to the final top 20 shoot-out. In the final series of qualifying, the electric water pump did not start up right away when we started the car and the engine temperature started climbing. Instead of risking further damage, we pitted and waited for the session to finish.   

We switched from mechanical to electric water pumps over the years to allow the water to circulate even when the engine is off in the pits. We have never had an issue before. We changed to a new pump earlier in the day, and it was running fine in earlier practice sessions. Now the Team is doubling down for a long night to uncover the root cause of the problem, and come up with a solution, which may involve swapping out the engine for a new engine, just to be safe.  

We will start tomorrow’s race towards the back of the top 30, not closer to the top 10 as we targeted, but 24 hours is a long race and we fight our way back. We are David fighting Goliaths. Yet unlike most of those Goliaths, we have finished every 24-hour race we have ever entered. The last time an American privateer won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring was Jim Hall in his Chaparral in 1967, and the odds are not in our favor. But we will continue to test, learn, and improve, and maybe swap out an engine and water pump between now and tomorrow when the 24 Hours of Nürburgring begins. We race for our fans, for the Ring, for the challenge, and for underdogs around the world.