Glickenhaus will pull out of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the end of the current season, meaning the company’s 007 LMH will no longer compete at the top level of endurance racing, including in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The U.S. performance marque confirmed to Evo last week the move will allow it to refocus its efforts on building road cars, notably the 004 supercar and Boot off-roader.
Company founder Jim Glickenhaus has also indicated that a series like the Nürburgring Endurance Series would have more of a direct correlation with the 004, Evo reported. The popular series held at the Nürburgring racetrack is where Glickenhaus cut its teeth early last decade competing with a race version of its Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina supercar.
One of the team’s drivers, Ryan Briscoe, has moved on to drive with new team Vanwall in the 2024 season, competing in the Hypercar class with a new LMH. Jacques Villeneuve will also drive for Vanwall.
Glickenhaus was the first team to sign on for the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class whose inaugural season was in 2021. That was also the first season for the new breed of LMH race cars. At the time, Toyota was the only other team with a LMH race car, the GR010 Hybrid. Alpine was also present, albeit with a grandfathered A480 LMP1 race car.
Glickenhaus hasn’t seen many successes in the sport, though it was looking good for a maiden win at the Monza round in 2022 until a turbo on its 007 LMH failed midway through and ended any hopes of a victory. It also managed to finish third overall at Le Mans in 2022.
Glickenhaus’ 007 LMH is an in-house-designed race car powered by a bespoke twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-8 developed by France’s Pipo Moteurs. Glickenhaus has also revealed a related 007S hypercar designed for road use, and production of that car is still planned, according to Evo. Glickenhaus has previously said production will only happen if the company receives a minimum of 24 orders.
