Video: Alfa Romeo Stelvio breaks Nürburgring SUV record

More Nürburging news, you say? You betchya. Records don’t stay unbroken for long around here. 

This time it’s the one for a production SUV, as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio has smashed a lap of the 12.9 mile Nordschleife in a record 7 minutes 51.7 seconds. That’s a full eight seconds faster than the previous production SUV record, held by the equally ballistic Porsche Cayenne Turbo. At the tail end of 2014, Porsche recorded a lap of 7m 59.74s, which in turn obliterated the record held by the Range Rover Sport. And you thought the hot hatch Nürburgring arms race was testy. 

The Alfa's time was set by Italian driver Fabio Francia, who had previously set the fastest Nürburgring track record for a four-door saloon in the Giulia Quadrifoglio, with a lap time of just 7min 32s. So yeah, he's a bit handy.

For reference, the Stelvio is powered by an all-aluminum, direct-injection 2.9-litre 24-valve twin-turbo V6, delivering 503bhp and 442lb ft of torque, which is coupled with the Q4 all-wheel-drive system. The engine is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission with specific settings for shifting in just 150 milliseconds in Race mode.

Fancy a crack at the Nürburgring in a Stelvio yourself? Yeah, thought not. For those still with us, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio will hit the UK market in 2018.