Porsche has smashed Tesla’s Nürburgring lap record as well as its own electric record. This feat puts the Taycan neck-and-neck with hypercars and cements its status as the king of road-legal electric sedans.
Driving a pre-production Taycan, Porsche development driver Lars Kern posted a lap time of 7:07.55 minutes on the 20,8 km Nürburgring Nordschleife (North loop).
According to Top Gear South Africa, this is 18 seconds faster than the Tesla Model S Plaid’s fastest lap in 2023, when the latter lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7:25.231 minutes.
The Taycan’s new record is also 26 seconds faster than Kern’s last record drive, in August 2022. The car was a Taycan Turbo S Sport sedan equipped with the performance package.
Never say Never(a)
What is even more impressive, is that the Taycan was only 2,3 seconds slower than the Rimac Nevera hypercar’s unbeaten EV lap record (for road cars) of 7:05.298 minutes. Though slower than the Rimac (pictured below), its feat still makes the Taycan the fastest road-legal electric sedan on the German track.
“Twenty-six seconds is half an eternity in motorsport,” says the head of the Taycan model line, Kevin Giek, of the time difference between the two Taycans . “Lars’ lap time of 7:07.55 minutes is sensational, putting the Taycan in the same league as electric hypercars,” he added.
Tri-motor Taycan in 2024?
Porsche did not reveal any technical detail about the record-breaking car, but it is rumoured to be a new three-motor version called the Taycan Turbo GT, with a total output exceeding 750 kW. A comprehensively updated Taycan model range is expected before the end of 2024. The Turbo GT is likely to be the new apex model of the series.
For safety reasons, Porsche had equipped the Taycan with a roll cage and racing seats. The manufacturer says it will publish an onboard video of the complete lap in mid-March.
Fastest EV racers
The overall fastest electric car on the Nordschleife is the 500 kW Volkswagen ID.R ‘Pikes Peak’ racer, pictured above. In 2019, with Romain Dumas at the helm, it set a time of 6:05.336 minutes, cornering at up to 3,49 g (three and a half times the force of gravitation).
Previously, the fastest electric track car around the Nordschleife was the NIO EP9 (pictured above) driven by Peter Dumbreck. He completed the 20,8 km in a time of 6:45.90 minutes in 2017.
