Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo obliterates Nurburgring lap record

AFTER MUCH anticipation, the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo has been properly unleashed on the Nürburgring — smashing the lap record in the process.

Driven by Le Mans veteran Timo Bernhard, the highly modified prototype racing car recorded an initial flying lap time of 5m 24.375s. As a result, the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo became the first ever car to officially lap the Nordschleife in less than 6 minutes.

The previous lap record was set all the way back in 1983, when the late Stefan Bellof put his Porsche 956 in the top spot with a time of 6m 11.13s

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Incredibly, there was still more time to be found. On a later run, Bernhard managed to shave another five seconds off his original time, with the time keepers recording an even faster lap of 5m 19.546s.

Gosh!!!
5:19.55 mins @Timo_Bernhard @nuerburgring Nordschleife #919tribute pic.twitter.com/8EGv3NOxHr

— Porsche LMP1 Team (@Porsche_Team) 29 June 2018

With the lap being so unbelievably fast, it’s no surprise the statistics behind it are equally impressive. When setting the record-breaking time, Bernhard’s 919 Hybrid Evo navigated the 12.93 miles course at an average speed of 145mph.

Even more amazingly, the derestricted Le Mans Prototype recorded a startling top speed just shy of 230mph down the Nordschleife’s back straight.

The record-smashing run is the latest part of Porsche’s “919 Tribute” programme, with the German car maker celebrating its recently-retired endurance race winner by demonstrating this even faster ‘Evo’ version at events around the world.

Porsche won’t be letting its 919 Hybrid Evo stand still for too long, either; the car is set to make its dynamic debut in the UK at next month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, with a another demo scheduled for Brands Hatch’s Festival of Porsche gathering in September.

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Video: Porsche unleashes its 919 Evo Le Mans racer at Nürburgring