Watch the Porsche 919 Lap the Nurburgring in 5 Minutes and 19 Seconds

Porsche has broken the all-time lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, with driver Timo Bernhard lapping the 12.9-mile circuit in a ridiculous 5:19.55 in the Porsche 919 Evo.

The 919 Evo, for those who don’t know, is Porsche’s heavily modified LMP1 car. The German automaker was forced to pull out of the FIA WEC, the series in which it once raced the car, but figured that it still may as well take the hybrid Le Mans prototype, modify it, and try to break some all-time lap records. First, it smashed Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 record at Spa and now it’s broken the all-time record at the Nurburgring – a time of 6:11.13 set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 in 1983.

“This is a great moment for me and for the entire team – the 919 programme’s icing on the cake,” Bernhard said after climbing from the 1,200 hp 919 Evo. “The Evo was perfectly prepared and I have done my best on this lap. Thanks to the aerodynamic downforce, at sections I never imagined you can stay on full throttle. I’m pretty familiar with the Nordschleife. But today I got to learn it in a new way.”

No longer under the thumb of the FIA rule makers, Porsche was allowed to fully uncork its hybrid LMP1 car in an attempt to break records. The hybrid V4 powertrain was boosted to 1,160 hp, the vehicle was lightened and the aerodynamics were modified to make over 50 percent more downforce than before. Crucially, an active rear wing was also fitted, which allows Bernhard to open up the wing for more speed on the straights and close it back up for the twisty sections of track. Another important modification was the tires, which are a specially developed set of extra-sticky slicks provided by Porsche’s tire partner Michelin.

In the onboard video of the lap, the 919 Evo teleports from apex to apex, leaping out corners with unbelievable speed and barely slowing down for the Nordschleife’s high-speed bends. It’s just about the craziest onboard video you’ll ever watch, so be sure not to miss it embedded above.

a version of this article first appeared on AutoGuide

The post Watch the Porsche 919 Lap the Nurburgring in 5 Minutes and 19 Seconds appeared first on VWVortex.

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