When the Nürburgring track came into life, it was considered as one of the most dangerous tracks in the world –so much that it was even banned from the Formula 1 calendar. Then it became a demanding course for privateers to drive their cars and bikes, and for carmakers to test their new cars driving dynamics.

But in the past few years, the Nordschleife, as it’s also named, has been transformed into a badge of honor and a true measurement of a car’s abilities, with automakers announcing the best lap times achieved at the ‘Ring in a one-upmanship contest. Something, which was inevitably bound to cause disputes as with the Nissan’s GT-R lap time.

Now, even EVs have joined the “beat the time” game at Nordschleife. Toyota Motorsport announced that its TMG EV P001 prototype smashed Peugeot’s EX1 9’01’’.338 record posting a lap time of 7’47’’.794 with Jochen Krumbach behind the wheel.

The car is based on a Radical chassis modified by electric car specialist e-WOLF and is powered by two electric motors with a combined output of 800 lb-ft and a top speed of 160 mph (257 km/h).

The team’s technical director, Pascal Vasselon, commented: “The goals for this project were twofold: obviously we wanted to set a new EV lap record and I am very pleased we could achieve that so comprehensively. On the other hand, we also wanted to learn more about the operation of our electric powertrain in extreme circumstances; in motorsport there is no more extreme circuit than the Nürburgring.”

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