If the Nurburgring’s 35-year old all-time lap record ends up falling, we can point to the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo as the car that did it. The unrestricted version of the German automaker’s LMP1 racer was recently spotted going full blast at the Nurburgring, fueling speculation that the car is preparing to take down the track’s 6:11.3 lap record that was set in 1983 by Stefan Bellof and his Porsche 956. It’s unclear if the 919 Hybrid Evo’s appearance at the Nordschleife is a sign of things to come, but the car’s recent globe-trotting, record-breaking exploits on other race tracks suggest that it has its sights sets on breaking the world’s pre-eminent lap record.

We’ve waited a long time for a car to come around that’s capable of breaking the Nurburgring Nordschleife's 35-year old all-time lap record of 6:11.3. It’s been that long since a car has approached that kind of lap time so you can imagine the excitement surrounding the 919 Hybrid Evo. Remember, this is the same car that set a new lap record at the Spa Francorchamps in Belgium last April, nudging the 1:42.553 lap record set by Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes F1 race car into the runner-up spot after posting a lap time of 1:41.7, almost a second quicker than the Formula One car.

When that happened, a lot of people immediately speculated that the Nurburgring would be the next track the 919 Hybrid Evo would set its sights on. Fast forward a few months, and here we are. The 919 Hybrid Evo was recently spotted in the world-famous race track, and it looked mighty comfortable driving around the world’s most famous race track.

The race car certainly has the chops to get the job done. It has almost 1,200 horsepower to play around with, and it only weighs 1,871 pounds, or around 849 kilos, making it extremely light and ridiculously powerful. With these numbers and the car’s recent form, it’s hard to imagine a scenario wherein the 919 Hybrid Evo doesn’t at least come close to the 956’s record mark.

All things considered, we’d love to see the 919 Hybrid Evo break the 35-year old Nordschleife record and live up to its billing as the race car that ended up destroying one lap record after another.

References

Read our full review on the 2018 Porsche 919 Hybrid

Read more Porsche news.