The Pininfarina Battista's development accelerates with Nick Heidfeld

Racer and Automobili Pininfarina Test and Development Driver Nick Heidfeld has taken the new Battista hyper GT on track for the first time as part of the ongoing prototype development at the Nardo Technical Center in Italy.

Heidfeld has played a key role in the development of Battista from the inception of the project. In 2019 he joined Automobili Pininfarina designers and engineers to provide ergonomics feedback on a physical - rather than virtual - prototype for the first time. Soon after, Heidfeld was in the seat of an advanced dynamic simulator in Italy, with the brief to support dynamic set-up of the 1,874bhp, all-wheel drive electric hyper GT.

His knowledge and more than 25 years of experience in high-performance motorsport continue to support refinement of the Battista's bespoke chassis settings and software calibration, ahead of the hyper GT entering production in Italy in the summer of 2021.

Nick Heidfeld said, "It has been really special to experience the Battista on the track for the first time. With the prototype at an advanced stage of development, we are testing Battista with around 80% of its potential power, the performance and acceleration is already beyond anything I could imagine."

"What really surprised me was how natural the Battista feels on the track. We are creating a hyper GT to be enjoyed at all speeds, yet here in Nardo the cornering control and speed we achieved were exceptional. Minimal traction control and torque vectoring are active at this stage of prototype development, yet there is so much grip to exploit."

The Automobili Pininfarina Battista is the most powerful road-legal car ever designed and built in Italy. No more than 150 units of the Battista will be individually hand-crafted at the Pininfarina SpA atelier in Turin, Italy, with the first cars set to be delivered to clients later in 2021.