It’s safe to say the car mechanics at our repair shop in Cincinnati live and breathe Porsches. They love driving them, fixing them, and of course nerding out on them. They follow Porsche news like a soap opera fix. They not only know which model is being released, as well as which is the fastest and the sleekest.
Which is why when word got out that Porsche’s 919 Hybrid LMP1 car broke the unofficial lap record of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, our guys were practically gabbing like quilting hens at a sewing circle. They just couldn’t get enough of it. Bring your Porsche by for its scheduled maintenance, and you’ll probably get an earful.
Former FIA World Endurance champion Neel Jani broke the record with a lap of 1m41.770s around the Belgian Grand Prix venue. With that kind of speed, you hope the Porsche brakes work, but you hate to use them.
“The 919 Evo is brutally impressive,” Jani stated. “It is definitely the fastest car I ever drove. The grip level is at a fully new dimension for me, I couldn’t imagine this amount beforehand. The speed on which everything happens on a single lap with the 919 Evo is that fast that the demand on reaction speed is very different to what I was used to in the WEC.”
Jani’s record Hamilton’s 2017 F1 former record of 1m42.553s, which was hitherto the fastest lap around Spa in its current 7.004km (4.352-mile) configuration.
“Porsche is embarking on a ‘World Tour’ with its now-retired LMP1 car this year following its withdrawal from the WEC’s top division, and has made numerous changes to the 919 in a bid to demonstrate what the car is capable of free of its usual restrictions.”
