Well, the dream is done, and privateer American racing team, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus will not compete at Le Mans next year. The team’s founder cited a lack of funds as the reason behind the decision.
The Glickenhaus 007 started racing in the World Endurance Championship in 2021. Developed by Italy’s Podium Advanced Technologies, it was one of the original entrants to compete in the FIA’s Hypercar class.
“We won’t be entering — it doesn’t make sense for us,” Cameron Glickenhaus, the team’s founder, told Motorsport. “To be competitive we’d need to do an evo version of the car and to run two of them. That’s not viable for a privateer: the only way we could do it would be with sponsorship or if a customer wanted to run a program with our car.”
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The automaker is facing increasingly stern competition, as Ferrari, Porsche, and several other large-scale manufacturers have entered the iconic endurance event. And in the near future, more brands like Lamborghini and Aston Martin is said to be joining in the fight.
Glickenhaus says that he and the team can be proud that despite the team’s small size, they achieved some impressive results in its time in the sport. At its first 24 Hours of Le Mans, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus finished fourth after a tight battle with Alpine. The following year, it earned itself a spot at the podium, finishing third.
“We were a legitimate effort and we did just great for a privateer,” said Glickenhaus. “We got on the podium in 2022 and this year we beat the likes of Porsche and Peugeot [by finishing sixth and seventh] — it really doesn’t get any better than that. We were an important part of the championship when they needed us.”
That’s not the end of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, though. The team hopes to continue racing at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race in the SP-X class. However, in that series, it will be competing with a modified version of its 004 supercar.
“We will go back to the ‘Ring one day, because we would be promoting what we sell,” said Glickenhaus.