Doff your caps and stand to attention, gentlemen. The Queen of the Nurburgring has passed away from cancer:

Top Gear‘s Sabine Schmitz has died aged 51 after a three-year battle with cancer.

he German known as the ‘Queen of the Nürburgring’ revealed last July that she had been suffering from ‘an extremely persistent cancer’ since 2017.

Schmitz was well known to British audiences for racing Jeremy Clarkson around the Nürburgring, her home track, on the BBC’s Top Gear. 

The Nürburgring, where she shot to fame as a ‘ring taxi’ driver, revealed the Schmitz’s death in a statement today, writing: ‘The Nurburgring has lost its most famous female racing driver.

‘Sabine Schmitz passed away far too early after a long illness. We will miss her and her cheerful nature. Rest in peace Sabine!’ 

Clarkson tweeted: ‘Terrible news about Sabine Schmitz. Such a sunny person and so full of beans.’

That is truly awful news. I remember watching Sabine’s insane lap in that Ford Transit van on old episodes of TOP GEAR, back in the day:

She was the ONLY reason to watch TOP GEAR after Jezza, Hammster, and Captain Slow left. Of course, she couldn’t save the show on her own – I’ve never watched the “new” shows and never will. But Sabine’s guest appearances on the show were always a lot of fun to watch.

Here are the lads taking on their German rivals:

Clear skies, Sabine. Rest in peace.