2020 Chevy Corvette's Nürburgring lap time revealed

Thanks to a well-placed shot in a documentary trailer, we finally know the answer to one of the most anticipated facts about the mid-engine 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8: What is its Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time? 

Earlier this week Chevy released a trailer for a new documentary about the C8's development, which was full of seemingly innocuous beauty shots of the 'Vette and interviews with employees. But about two-thirds of the way through the trailer there's a panning shot of the Nürburgring race track, and "painted" on the track is a lap time. That time reads 7:29.9, and it's legit.

A Chevy spokesperson said in a statement to Roadshow that the uncertified time was set last summer by a new Corvette with the optional Z51 Performance Package. The lap was done by Oliver Gavin, a five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Corvette Racing team. Because if you're gonna have someone set a lap time at the 'Ring with your radical new sports car, it might as well be a decorated race car driver, right? In a tweet that also includes the documentary trailer, Gavin said he had "a great time behind the wheel" and that Chevy "even let me set a laptime!"

I had a great time behind the wheel of the Corvette Stingray last summer in Germany. Take a close look at the Corvette Documentary Trailer to see how we did, they even let me set a laptime! @Corvette @TeamChevy pic.twitter.com/XtM6Vu3j92

— Oliver Gavin (@olivergavin) February 4, 2020

A lap time of 7:29.9 puts the new Corvette within spitting distance of slightly older (and much more expensive) supercars like the Mercedes-Benz SLS Black Series and the McLaren MP4-12C. The C8 is also just barely off Chevy's time for the Camaro ZL1, which lapped the track in 7:29.6 -- and the ZL1 1LE was even quicker, setting a time of 7:16.04. Chevy never officially released lap times for any C7 Corvette, so we sadly don't have anything to compare the C8's time with in that regard, although the German publication Sport Auto lapped a C7 Z06 around the 'Ring in 7:13.90.

But keep in mind that this is just the "base" version of the new Corvette. There are higher performance versions on the way, so don't expect Chevy to rest on its laurels. And given that this time is uncertified and likely set by a prototype, we may even see an official, even quicker lap time from the standard C8 Corvette in the future.