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29 Jun 2018

Time machine

Porsche’s 919 has just posted the incredible, inevitable, new ‘Ring record.

Porsche’s 919 has just posted the incredible, inevitable, new ‘Ring record.

After months of speculation and the frantic whirring of the rumour mill in recent days, Porsche Motorsport has finally gone for a proper time around the Nürburgring with its unhinged 919 Evo.
 
This heavily revised and derestricted version of last year’s Le Mans winner, running around 1,200bhp and equipped with bespoke tyres and aero package, has crushed Stefan Bellof’s long-standing record by almost a minute, lapping the 12.9 mile Nordschleife in a barely comprehensible 5.19.55 minutes.


 


Bellof’s time was set in qualifying for the Nürbugring 1000km in 1983, driving the 620bhp 956 – the ground effect on which made it both incredibly fast and incredibly dangerous over the uneven surfaces through the Eifel mountains. This would be the last time sports prototypes raced at the circuit and that record run has looked untouchable for 35 years as a result.
 
The man at the wheel today was reigning World Endurance Champion Timo Bernhard, Porsche’s LMP1 mainstay and a man who knows both the 919 and the Nordschleife with invaluable intimacy.
 
Although the 919 Evo does not comply with FIA regulations, this remarkable achievement underlines the true potential of Porsche’s LMP1 hybrids when they are no longer pegged back by equivalency.
 
Which begs another question: what might Toyota do in return? Watch this space…

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