Porsche achieves outstanding Nürburgring lap time with hybrid prototype racecar

PORSCHE driver Timo Bernhard has lapped the 20.832-km Nürburgring Nordschleife race circuit in a record five minutes and 19.55 seconds. This results in an average speed of 233.8 km/h on what is revered by race drivers, engineers and enthusiasts alike as the world’s most difficult track. Driving the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, Bernhard beat the previous lap record, set by Stefan Bellof, by 51.58 seconds.

For 35 years and 31 days, Bellof’s 6:11.13 minutes record remained uncontested. The German driver from Gießen, who tragically died at SpaFrancorchamps in 1985, counted as the biggest racing talent of his time. He drove his record on May 28, 1983 at the wheel of a powerful 620 bhp Rothmans Porsche 956 C during practice for the 1000-km WEC sports car race. Also his average speed was over 200 km/h.

Proud and relieved, Timo Bernhard, the five-time overall winner of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, two-time outright winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours and reigning World Endurance Champion with the Porsche 919 Hybrid, clambered out of the tight Le Mans prototype cockpit. “This is a great moment for me and for the entire team — the 919 program’s icing on the cake. 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,” said the 37-year-old from Bruchmühlbach-Miesau in the German region of Saarpfalz. He is a huge admirer of Stefan Bellof. In 2015, on the thirtieth anniversary of Bellof’s fatal accident, Timo raced at the SpaFrancorchamps six-hour race of the FIA World Endurance Championship with a helmet carrying the famous blackred-gold design of the 1980s star. “For me Stefan Bellof is and remains a giant,” he emphasises. “Today, my respect for his achievement with the technology available back then increased even more.”

This success is the second track record on the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo tally: On April 9 in Spa, the dramatic evolution of the three-time Le Mans winner lapped faster than a Formula One car with Neel Jani at the wheel. The 34-year-old Porsche works driver from Switzerland — Le Mans outright winner and Endurance World Champion of 2016 — set a lap of 1:41,770 minutes on the 7.004-km Grand Prix circuit in the Belgian Ardennes mountains.

The Evo version of the Porsche 919 Hybrid is based on the car that took outright victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours and won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Over the winter, it was freed from some restrictions hitherto determined by the regulations. Thus, its hybrid power train now develops a system output of 1,160 hp. The Evo weighs only 849 kgs and its modified (and now active) aerodynamics generate over 50 percent more downforce compared to the WEC model. Top speed at the Nürburgring was 369.4 km/h.

To prepare the 919 Evo record car, the base was the 2017 world championship car. On top came developments that were prepared for the 2018 WEC but never raced after the withdrawal at the end of 2017.

For the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo the entire hardware of the power train remained untouched. The 919 is powered by a compact 2.0-liter turbo V4 engine and two energy recovery systems — brake energy from the front axle combined with exhaust energy. The combustion engine drives the rear axle while the electro motor boosts the front axle to accelerate the car with fourwheel drive. At the same time, it recuperates energy from the exhaust system that otherwise would pass unused in to the atmosphere. The electrical energy that comes from the front brakes and the exhaust system is temporarily stored in a liquid-cooled lithium ion battery.

Compared to the car in conventional race trim, the dry weight was reduced by 39 kgs to 849 kgs. To achieve this, air-conditioning, windscreen wiper, several sensors, electronic devices from race control, lights systems and the pneumatic jack system were removed. Michelin developed special tires for the 919 Evo that produces more downforce than a Formula One car.