Porsche May Be Trying to Lap the Nurburgring in Under 6:11.13

Porsche may be attempting to lap the Nurburgring in under 6 minutes and 11 seconds with its 919 Evo.

According to the Nurburgring-obsessed folks over at Bridge to Gantry, the heavily modified Porsche 919 Evo was seen lapping the Nurburgring Nordschleife quite quickly today. Additionally, Porsche’s official Twitter account sent out a tweet confirming it was at the daunting 12.9-mile circuit with its 919 Evo and professional driver Timo Bernhard. Fan videos of the car at the track also surfaced on social media and YouTube.

Well, @Timo_Bernhard loves that track @nuerburgring #Nordschleife.

Perhaps he comes again ??? #919tribute Evo pic.twitter.com/Ve7o5Xzfwi

— Porsche LMP1 Team (@Porsche_Team) June 4, 2018

Based on this intel, it seems possible the Porsche crew is attempting to break the outright lap record at the track, which stands at 6:11.13. That time was set by the late Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 on May 28th, 1983.

If you’re going to set an outright Nordschleife record, Bernhard is your man. The German driver loves the Nurburgring, laying claim to multiple 24 Hours of Nurburgring wins. He’s also a two-time FIA WEC LMP1 class champion and has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times.

The 919 Evo is a heavily modified version of the 919 Hybrid that took last year’s FIA WEC LMP1 title. Without the FIA dictating what Porsche can and can’t do to the prototype race car, the German company was allowed to make it lighter, more powerful and more aerodynamic. In the hands of Neel Jani, the 919 Evo beat Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 Belgian Grand Prix pole lap at Spa by 0.783 seconds, so it just may be capable of beating the wildly fast 956 around the Green Hell.

It’s likely that Porsche went to the Nurburgring today with the intention of gathering important data for an eventual record attempt. We’ll provide an update if Porsche returns to the track and will hopefully one day be able to bring you onboard video of the lap. Fingers crossed, race fans.