Porsche recently brought the 919 Hybrid Evo to the Nürburgring Nordschleife. While it didn't break the track record, the math suggests the beastly machine was definitely capable of setting the quickest time ever around the famous course. In ideal conditions, Porsche might even lap the circuit in a nearly unbelievable 4:51 – enough to crush Stefan Bellof's record of 6:11.13 in a Porsche 956 in 1983.

Misha Charoudin was trackside during the 919 Hybrid Evo's day at the Nordschleife and was able to time the fast laps. At its quickest, the car driven by last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard did a 6:20 lap. However, this time doesn't tell the whole story.

Bernhard was lifting on the final straightaway and slowing to enter the pits. Thankfully, Charoudin position put him next to a marshal's post where he could here the track radio. Officials checked in when the 919 passed them, which allowed for a way for Charoudin to calculate the section times when Bernhard was really pushing the car. Factoring in an estimate for the final four-kilometer (2.5-mile) section, Charoudin estimated the Porsche could have completed a circuit in 5:09.

As an additional caveat, the weather was quite warm, and the track was very hot on the day when the Porsche was at the Nordschleife. With better conditions, the 919 might be able to drop below the five-minute mark.

Charoudin predicts that Porsche might analyze the telemetry from these laps and return to the course during better conditions to crush the old record. There isn't hard evidence that this would actually happen, but Charoudin's logic makes sense to us. 

The 919 Hybrid Evo is Porsche's effort to create the ultimate machine for setting fast laps without any care for competition rules and regulations. Power comes from a 2.0-liter turbocharged V4 engine making 710 horsepower (530 kilowatts) and two energy recovery systems providing an additional 434 hp (324 kW). The body features refined aerodynamics with actively adjustable elements. The engineers also strip off anything not necessary beyond a single lap like the windshield wiper, air conditioning, and pneumatic jack system. The 919 Hybrid Evo already set a new course record of 1:41.770 at Spa-Francorchamps.

It'll likely set more course records later this year because Porsche will take the 919 Hybrid Evo the  Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, the Festival of Porsche at Brands Hatch on September 2, and the Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca from September 26 to 29.

Source: Misha Charoudin via YouTube