Five years ago, Porsche developed the 919 Evo, the unrestricted version of its three-time Le Mans-winning prototype. The German automaker’s factory racing team used the 919 Evo to shatter Nürburgring’s outright lap record by a 51-second margin. While not restrained by a regulatory body, the sports prototype still had to adhere to the first law of circuit racing. The track ends where the pavement stops.
The Porsche 911 Dakar might have the absolute performance capabilities of a Le Mans prototype, but it can tread where most racers wouldn’t dare. No pavement, no problem! German magazine Sport Auto took the off-road-focused 911 to the iconic racetrack for the latest edition of its Supertest series.
Test driver Christian Gebhardt took as many liberties as possible, using the barriers lining the circuit as the track limit. He raced across the grass to cut corners and track extend to carry more speed. However, the boldest shortcut was when Gebhardt took a left after Klostertal and drove through a gap in the Armco barriers. He hurtled through the abandoned Steilstrecke hillclimb, completely eliminating the banked concrete-paved Karussell from his lap.
The Porsche 911 Dakar crossed the finish line with a lap time of 7 minutes, 39.4 seconds. The lap was faster than those set by the Bugatti Veyron and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Extremely impressive for a lifted car fitted with Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain tires. There is still probably time left on the table with more aggressive short-cutting and a more-bespoke 911 Dakar built for the task. It would be incredible to see Porsche make a 919 Evo-esque effort to improve the 911 Dakar’s time.
