Alfa Romeo’s soon-to-be-released performance SUV, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, has broken the Nürburgring lap record for such a vehicle.
Fitted with a 2.9-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 engine that produces 503bhp, the Quadrifoglio was able to complete the 12.9-mile lap in seven minutes and 51.7 seconds – eight seconds faster than the previous record.
This is the second record that Alfa Romeo has broken at the Nürburgring in recent times as their Giulia Quadrifoglio took the fastest time for a four-door saloon with a seven minute and 32-second lap in September 2016.
Quadrifoglio translates from Italian as ‘Cloverleaf’ and is the name that signifies Alfa Romeo’s sportier editions and come with improved performance over the standard models.
The Stelvio Quadrifoglio is still in development, so its full performance figures are yet to be revealed. However, we do know that it comes with Alfa’s four-wheel drive system to help put down the 600Nm of torque and the eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters can change gear in just 150 milliseconds in Race mode.
Alfa has also applied lightweight materials, such as carbon fibre, to create a rigid structure that also comes with 50/50 weight distribution and excellent power-to-weight statistics. It also comes with tuned adaptive suspension, a torque vectoring differential to aid cornering and cylinder deactivation to help save fuel.
Models will come with carbon-fibre Sparco racing seats and Brembo carbon ceramic brakes with the sports braking system.
Although a release date hasn’t been confirmed, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio will be on sale in the UK at some point in 2018.
