New Porsche Panamera inks fresh record around Nordschleife

Another new day, another record for Porsche around the Nurburgring.

The new Porsche Panamera has logged a new best time in the category of luxury class cars with combustion engines and hybrids, lapping the Nordschleife in just 7:24.17 minutes - and besting the timing of the previous Panamera Turbo S by more than five seconds (or 5.64 seconds, to be exact). Behind the wheel again was Porsche development driver Lars Kern, who also drove what was later revealed to be the Taycan Turbo GT to its record back in January.

With its record, the new Panamera flagship has bested the timing of the previous Panamera Turbo S by more than five seconds

But it's worth noting that this wasn't just any Panamera.

Instead, Porsche has revealed that the record-making car was an all-new, future top model of the Panamera lineup, boasting an "electrically supported eight-cylinder combustion engine" under its front hood.

Apart from a racing seat and the mandatory safety cage, the car driven by Kern corresponded largely to the series version, and wore 21-inch Michelin Sport Cup 2 tyres with staggered profiles: 275/35 at the front,  and 325/30 at the rear. It was also fitted with the optional Carbon Aerokit for optimised performance and aerodynamic balance.

Porsche states the the future top model of the Panamera will boast an electrically supported eight-cylinder engine under the hood 

Interestingly, the current Panamera already includes a variant featuring exactly a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 integrated into a plug-in hybrid powertrain within its lineup - what you'll know as the Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid. 

Capable of a combined 671bhp and 930Nm of torque, the Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid will shred the century sprint in just 3.1 seconds. It's thus safe to say that whatever this record-breaking future top model is packing promises to be even more manic still. (In case it's still not clear, a Turbo S variant has yet to be revealed for new Panamera.)

Speaking after his run with the car, Kern credited the record to the new top model's sophisticated powertrain, aerodynamics and new ultra high-performance tyres, before further complimenting one vital piece of chassis tech first introduced on the new Panamera: "The new Porsche Active Ride chassis has made a particularly big contribution. The car stays parallel to the road at all times. Its cornering and body stability are on a whole new level."

Porsche development and test driver, Lars Kern, shared that the new top-of-the-line Panamera model responded with greater agility around a number of technically demanding corner sequences on the Nordschleife

He also highlighted a couple of technically demanding corner sequences, including the Hohe Acht and Brunnchen sections of the track, as areas in which the new top-of-the-line Panamera responded with "noticeably greater agility". 

Porsche has not revealed any further details on this future top model Panamera, only stating that its record comes "shortly before its launch".