New Porsche Taycan smashes Tesla’s Nürburgring EV lap time, narrowly misses Rimac

A really fast German car has gone really fast around a really scary German racetrack. Welcome to 2024! Step right in, the water’s… toasty.

Principally because Porsche has set a blistering time of 7m 07.55s around the Nürburgring in its upcoming new Taycan, eclipsing not just its own benchmark but that of its arch rival Tesla.

For those who haven’t been following the ping-pong battle of EV lap times betwixt Porsche and Tesla, there’s a really simple takeaway: the new Taycan’s lap is only two seconds slower than a fully-blown 1,888bhp quad-motor electric hypercar, and thus only two seconds off the quickest EV at the 'Ring.

The Rimac Nevera holds the current EV lap record with a time of 7m 05.298s, putting Lars Kern’s latest effort into context. More context arrives in the fact that it’s twenty-six seconds quicker than the outgoing Taycan Turbo S Sport managed back in 2022, and 18 seconds faster than the Tesla Model S Plaid hit back with in 2023.

And Porsche has illustrated just how much quicker the new car is compared to the old one: the new Taycan crossed the finish line 0.8 miles ahead of the old car’s August 2022 attempt. Sheesh.

“Twenty-six seconds is half an eternity in motorsport,” said Taycan model line boss Kevin Giek. “Lars’ lap time of 7m 07.55s on the Nordschleife is sensational, putting the Taycan in the same league as electric hypercars.

“And the impressive thing about it is that over several laps, Lars clocked almost exactly the same time,” Giek added.

Must be tired, poor bloke. “I pushed as hard as I could, but that was really all I could do,” the Porsche hot shoe said. The new Taycan had the entire place to itself for the attempt, wearing only a roll cage and bucket seats.

How soon before a) Tesla hits back, and b) Porsche finds another two seconds to beat the Nevera?