The Porsche 911 Dakar is unlike any other 911 on sale today, and to reflect that fact, it has driven a lap of the Nurburgring that no other 911 could. Taking advantage of its off-road equipment, the car has been allowed to drive its own, unique interpretation of the famous German racetrack.
Christian Gebhardt, Sport Auto’s resident hot shoe, is no stranger to the Nurburgring, having taken countless cars around the track and set many records. It seems unlikely that he’s ever taken these particular lines before, though.
He admits from the start of a new hot lap video that “this is not the classic Supertest.” With the help of the 911 Dakar’s increased ride height and its off-road tires, he cuts a few corners, taking to the grass, shooting up clouds of dust.
Read: Watch Porsche’s 911 Dakar Battle Huracan Sterrato In Ultimate Crossover Drag Race
However, the biggest shortcut sees him cut more than just the track limits. After Klostertal, Gebhart leaves the track entirely, driving past the barriers, and hurtling up the abandoned Steilstrecke hillclimb, sidestepping the famous Karussel altogether.
Ultimately, the shortcuts help what is famously the slowest Porsche 911 since the ’80s achieve a lap time of 7:39.4, which is about as long as it took Gebhardt to get the 2023 Audi RS3 Avant Competition Plus around the track. Mind you, I imagine there will be a rather large asterisk next to that number on the Wikipedia page of Nurburgring lap times.
Of course, Gebhardt and Sport Auto know that this is a silly video for fun, but what’s most surprising is that the driver doesn’t seem to know how to take it easy. I won’t pretend to know how much harder he could have pushed, but throughout the lap he really appears to be trying to go fast, even though the point of the video wasn’t really the timing sheet.
Racecar drivers: they can’t help but want to go fast.