The Nurburgring is naming a corner after the late Sabine Schmitz

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It wasn’t long after German race car driver Sabine Schmitz’s death from cancer mid-March for members of the racing community to propose naming one of the corners of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in her honour.

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The group representing the iconic 20.6-km race track – okay, heavily restricted “toll road” – revealed mid-June it will in fact commemorate the late “Queen of the Nürburgring” with such a distinction.

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The Nurburgring is naming a corner after the late Sabine Schmitz Back to video

The ‘Ring has 154 corners, many of them already with well-known nicknames, but it was decided the new “Sabine-Schmitz-Kurve” will actually be the first corner on the track, the sharp left-hand downhill near the southernmost tip of the full course, which happens to be one of the most memorable corners still without a formal name attached.

The official naming ceremony will take place September 11, just ahead of a six-hour Nürburgring Endurance Series race. Schmitz won a VLN championship in the series in 1998.

Schmitz, who died March 16 at age 51, was known not only for her incredible driving skill but also for being a presenter on the popular Top Gear television program. Also known as “the ambassador of the Nürburgring” for the attention she drew to the course, Schmitz was also a local who grew up just metres from the corner that now bears her name.

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