Glickenhaus Bids Farewell to WEC in 2024

The Glickenhaus Racing team, a notable presence in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with its Le Mans Hypercar, has announced its withdrawal from the championship in 2024. The decision was confirmed by team founder Jim Glickenhaus, who revealed that they will not be filing an entry for the upcoming season, marking the end of an era in WEC racing.

The news comes as a follow-up to the team’s recent decision to skip the Asian leg of the WEC, consisting of races in Fuji and Bahrain. The Glickenhaus-Pipo 007, which had initially been entered for the entire season, remained absent from the competition. Jim Glickenhaus had previously hinted at the team’s condition, emphasizing the need for sponsorship to continue their WEC journey.

Glickenhaus explained, “To be competitive, we’d need to do an evo version of the car and 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.”

Sponsorship, however, proved elusive, leading to the difficult decision not to participate in the 2024 WEC season. Glickenhaus stated, “Finding the necessary sponsorship isn’t realistic. No, we won’t be entering – it doesn’t make sense for us.”

The priority for the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus company now lies in the production of road-going vehicles, such as the 004 sportscar, which is based on the Nürburgring 24 Hours racer. Glickenhaus emphasized, “For our little company, competing in the WEC just doesn’t make sense.”

Although the Glickenhaus team is bidding farewell to WEC, there is still hope for a return to the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in Germany with the SCG 004C, which last contested the race in the SP-X class in 2022. “We will go back to the ‘Ring one day because we would be promoting what we sell,” Glickenhaus reassured.

Reflecting on their journey in the WEC, Glickenhaus expressed pride in their achievements, including a podium finish at Le Mans in 2022. “We were a legitimate effort and we did just great for a privateer,” he remarked. “We got on the podium in 2022, and this year we beat the likes of Porsche and Peugeot — it really doesn’t get any better than that. We were an important part of the championship when they needed us.”

The Glickenhaus 007, developed by Podium Advanced Technologies in Italy, made its debut in the WEC during the Hypercar era in 2021 at Portimao, marking the beginning of an exciting chapter in the team’s history. Over the course of three seasons in the WEC, the 007 secured two podium finishes and two pole positions, leaving an indelible mark on the world of endurance racing. In 2023, the team was on the cusp of victory at Monza before a turbo failure dashed their hopes.