The battle of the big German supercars has stepped up a notch after it was revealed that the all-new Porsche Panamera has gone around the famous Nurburgring track faster than any other executive car.
Driven by Porsche’s famous test driver Las Kern, the Panamera knocked 13 seconds off the time posted by the previous generation Panamera and took the overall executive car top spot from the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S. The Mercedes posted a time of 7 minutes and 30.11 seconds in 2018, but the Porsche Panamera beat that and went under 7 minutes 30 on the 13-mile track, setting the bar at 7 minutes 29.81 seconds.
The all-new Porsche Panamera has a new look chassis and some engine modifications, and though the car used was production spec, rumoured to be the Turbo S E-Hybrid variant, it did come equipped with a racing seat and a safety cage.
Speaking about the flying lap, Las Kern said: “The enhancements made to the chassis and the powertrain of the new Panamera were always noticeable during this lap on what is recognised as the most demanding race track in the world.
“In the Hatzenbach or also Bergwerk and Kesselchen sections in particular, the new setup of the electromechanical roll stabilisation system remains consistently effective and provides the Panamera with incredible stability in spite of the bumpy track surface. At the Schwedenkreuz, the car benefited from the improved lateral dynamics and the increased grip of the new Michelin sports tyres. I achieved cornering speeds there that I would not have believed possible with the Panamera.”
The record time by Kern was posted on 24th July, in a specially camouflage Porsche four-door saloon, which will be unveiled to the public later this month.
Porsche currently dominate the fastest times for production cars on the famous German track, with their GT2 RS RM, also driven by Kern, having the overall record of 6 minutes 44.749 seconds for the fastest lap by a production car.