Porsche 919 Evo obliterates Nordschleife lap record
Porsche 919 Evo obliterates Nordschleife lap record
In a stunning display of performance, the Porsche 919 Evo smashed the existing lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Timo Bernhard took the car to a new mark around the 20.832 km (12.944 miles) circuit at a staggering 5 minutes, 19.55 seconds (Photo above by Porsche). The previous mark, held in race competition, was Stefan Bellof’s 6 minutes, 11.13 seconds in 1983 in a Porsche 956.
Porsche’s evo version of its LMP1 spec 919 Hybrid runs unrestricted. It features significantly enhanced aero, without any restrictors, and on specially developed Michelin tires.
For Michelin, the tires designed were developed to improve performance by around 15 percent and withstand greater stresses.
This marks Porsche’s second outright lap record with the car. It also did so at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year, at 1:41.770 by Neel Jani.
Here is a video of the lap itself.
“I wish to congratulate our partner Porsche and Timo Bernhard on this new record, set around one of the most iconic and demanding circuits in the world, and also the undisputed reference in Europe for measuring this type of achievement. I am proud that Michelin was able to contribute to Porsche’s extraordinary success, in providing tires that are at the cutting-edge of both performance and safety,” said Michelin Motorsport Director Pascal Couasnon.
This run serves as the last record-setting attempt for the Porsche 919 Evo. Alas, the car still has several other runs in 2018 as part of the Porsche 919 “Tribute Tour.”
Bernhard hailed the Porsche Team’s achievement. His longtime co-driver Romain Dumas set a lap record at Pikes Peak last week.
The evo version of the Le Mans winning Porsche 919 Hybrid set a new record on the famous Nürburgring-Nordschleife. The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo lapped the 20.8-kilometer long track in 5:19.546 minutes. pic.twitter.com/OD0dG9o9p3
— Porsche Newsroom (@PorscheNewsroom) June 29, 2018
“This is a great moment for me and for the entire team – the 919 program’s icing on the cake,” he said. “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.”
Porsche also thanked Michelin for its contribution to the effort.
“As a race team we constantly search for challenges that push a car, driver and team to operate on the limit,” said LMP Team Principal Andreas Seidl.
“Conquering the ‘Green Hell’ definitely provided such a challenge.
“Since last winter we were preparing for that task together with our tire partner Michelin – painstakingly and with a great deal of respect for this track.”
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