Gumpert apollo sport Sets New Nurburgring Lap Record

German manufacturer Gumpert announced today, not without pride, the braking of the record for fastest lap of a road legal car on the Nurburgring Nordsschleife track. The car to manage the feat is the apollo sport, who set the new threshold at 7:11:57. The driver who had the courage to get behind the wheel of the 700 hp monster was 26 year-old Florian Gruber.

“The conditions were good, but not perfect – so we have still got potential to go faster”, concluded Florian Gruber. The driver says the car has more potential than this and may even manage to get it below the 7 minutes mark.

“It is great that we broke the record and that we were able to show the potential of the apollo – but at this stage there is no need to go faster. We don´t want to demoralize our fellow competitors by now...,” Roland Gumpert, Gumpert managing director said in a release.

The new time set by the apollo was managed after the car averaged 106.78 mph (171.84 km/h) and is 3.2 seconds faster the the former record holder, the Donkervoort D8 RS06. Still, contesters of the new record have already appeared and they say the apollo did not manage to beat the record set by Radical Sr8, but with no official body yet sanctions these types of challenges.

The Gumpert apollo sport is powered by an Audi sourced bi-turbo 4.2 liter V8 engine. It can get from 0 to 200 km/h in 8.9 seconds (0-100 in 3.5 seconds) and can accelerate until it reaches 360 km/h (224 mph).