The Most Recent Records Set This Year With The Audi Rs 3 And Audi Rs Q8 Performance.

From 2019 up to now, Pirelli has set more than one lap record per year on average at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. These records have been established with all sorts of vehicles, ranging from electric supercars to SUVs to compact hatchbacks, yet Pirelli has been a constant when it comes to lowering the Nordschleife lap times across every category of car.

All the tires in the P Zero range but the novelties introduced recently can boast a lap record around the Ring in the last five years: P Zero Trofeo R on the Audi RS 3 and P Zero on the Audi RS Q8 performance in 2024; P Zero Trofeo RS on the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT in 2023; P Zero Corsa on the Porsche Taycan Turbo S in 2022; P Zero Corsa on the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and P Zero Trofeo R on the Audi RS 3 in 2021; and finally P Zero on the Audi RS Q8 in 2019.

The most recent records have come this year with the Audi RS 3, set on the P Zero Trofeo R – a semi-slick tire specialised in circuit use – and Audi RS Q8 performance equipped with the P Zero: the Ultra High Performance tire most frequently chosen by manufacturers to equip their top models. The Audi RS 3 record of 7m33.123s lowered the benchmark for compact cars by more than five seconds, while the RS Q8 performance became the fastest production SUV ever to lap the Ring, in a time of 7m36.698s that broke the existing record by more than two seconds. The same models had previously established the class records in 2021 and 2019 respectively, again on P Zero Trofeo R and P Zero tires.The Nürburgring Nordschleife, one of the most challenging circuits in the world, serves as a key testing ground for Pirelli, where the company rigorously evaluates its tires and latest developments on high-performance vehicles, particularly in partnership with German carmakers. A standout example is the P Zero Trofeo RS for the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT: the most sporting tire in the P Zero range, designed for track use but fully approved for the road. In a specially developed version for the electric supercar, these tires brought the innovative Pirelli Elect technology package to the track; designed to enhance the performance characteristics of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The results speak for themselves: the Taycan Turbo GT achieved a lap time of 7m07.55s, claiming the title of fastest production electric car at the Nürburgring and surpassing the previous record held by the Taycan Turbo S equipped with Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires.

The P Zero Corsa, dedicated to the most performance-focused cars, also helped the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT secure the previous record in the SUV category. Earlier this year, the very same tire powered the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N electric crossover to a remarkable lap time of 7m45.59s.

Tagged: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

More Than One Lap Record Per Year for Pirelli at The Nürburgring Nordschleife