Andy Nurman
January 7, 2024
Porsche development driver Lars Kern has set a new lap record for a production electric vehicle at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, piloting a pre-production Taycan around the track in 7:07.55. This stunning time is a full 26 seconds faster than Kern’s previous Taycan record set in August 2022 in a Taycan Turbo S Sport.
“Twenty-six seconds is half an eternity in motorsport. Lars’ lap time of 7:07.55 minutes on the Nordschleife puts the Taycan in the same league as electric hypercars,” said Porsche’s Kevin Giek. “And the impressive thing is that over several laps, Lars clocked almost exactly the same time.”
The sub-$200k Taycan is now closing the gap with $2 million Rimac Nevera’s record of 7:05.298 around the formidable track known as the “Green Hell.” Porsche’s EV also thoroughly trounced the previous Tesla Model S Plaid record of 7:25.091. Kern’s blistering lap shows just how much progress automakers have made in developing electrified performance cars.
Given Elon Musk’s competitive nature, I am certain that we can expect him to push his engineering team to make modifications to the Model S Plaid in an attempt to reclaim the Nürburgring lap record for an electric mass production car.
