ALFA ROMEO STELVIO Quadrifoglio has set the new benchmark for a production SUV at Germany’s legendary Nürburgring circuit. The Italian SUV lapped the epic 12.9 mile Nordschleife in a record 7 minutes 51.7 seconds.

This new time is a full eight seconds faster than the previous production SUV record held by the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.

Behind the wheel of Alfa Romeo’s first ever SUV at the Green Hell was Italian driver Fabio Francia. Francia was the same driver who previously set the fastest Nürburgring track record for four-door saloons in the Giulia Quadrifoglio with a lap time of just 7 minutes and 32 seconds.

The range-topping high-performance Stelvio Quadrifoglio is powered by an all-aluminum, direct-injection 2.9-litre 24-valve Twin-Turbo intercooled V6 engine, delivering 510hp and 600Nm 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.

Unique to the Quadrifoglio model are a four-mode Alfa DNA Pro selector with Race mode, a torque vectoring differential, Quadrifoglio-tuned adaptive suspension and cylinder deactivation designed to maximise fuel economy.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio range is now available in Irish dealerships with a starting price of  €47,295. The range-topping Stelvio Quadrifoglio will join the line up in Ireland in 2018.

You can watch the record lap here:

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