Mercedes-AMG GT R Laps Nurburgring in Amazing 7:10, "Defeats" Porsche 918 Spyder

Instead of asking its drivers to fly round the Nordschleife, the carmaker handed the 577 hp supercar over to Sport Auto for one of the mag's infamous Ring laps. And with a stunning 7:10.92, the Beast of the Green Hell stayed true to its factory nickname.

The piece of footage below allows us to see Sport Auto test driver Christian Gebhardt manhandling the all-wheel-steering animal around the track. The run was performed during a Mercedes-AMG trackday and, as a bonus, you can see the GT3 racecar passing the GT R like it's nothing during the latter's glory lap.

When it comes to lap time comparos, things aren't that simple. Let's take the current production car Nurburgring lap record holder, for example. The Porsche 918 Spyder covered the track in 6:57, but that's the official time Porsche achieved by pulling a monstrous three-driver effort. In Sport Auto's hands, the 918 pulled a 7:13, so we could say that... it's complicated, hence the quotes in the title above.

Even so, the GT R obliterates the (factory) lap times of the 911 GT3 RS (7:20) or the 991.2 Turbo S (7:18). However, once the 991.2 Porsche 911 GT3 comes out, Porsche should also release the new GT2 (RS), with the later having serious chances to leave the GT R trailing in its wake.

Affalterbach is prepared for such a move, though, with the mysterious Mercedes-AMG GT prototype that has been testing at the Ring after the GT R was introduced, being the ace up the company's sleeve - this could be the Black Series, even though such a model should've arrived closer to the end of the supercar's life cycle.

Now that carmakers have probably closed the 2016 Nurburgring announcement book (remember the VW Golf GTI Clubsport record that landed yesterday?), we can certainly look forward to an effervescent 2017, with Koenigsegg and maybe even Pagani efforts to look forward to.