Porsche isn’t finished crowing about its new Nürburgring lap record, and it’s hard to blame them. The sports car maker’s motorsport division took a World Endurance Championship-winning race car, made that car better, then ran the 12-mile track in 5:19.546. The time eclipsed the old benchmark by the rather enormous gap of 52 seconds. Hammering home the brand’s motorsport mastery is the fact that in achieving the feat, Porsche broke its own record, set in 1983 in the championship-winning 956C. And for anyone who didn’t know, Porsche has held the first-, second-, and third-fastest ‘Ring lap records since then.
So perhaps some gloating is in order. The carmaker released a new batch of photos and made a video smackdown speaking directly to the track known as The Green Hell. A voiceover, embodying the 1,160-horsepower 919 Hybrid Evo, says it’s the ‘Ring’s “worst nightmare” and vows to defeat the track. When it does, it crowns itself the “New king of the ring.”
Hard to argue that point — for the moment, at least. Now that the FIA has a Hypercar Class that resurrects a feasibly-production-related run-what-you-brung philosophy at the front of the field, perhaps we won’t need to wait another 35 years for a new king.
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