Porsche 911 Hybrid Significantly Faster Around the Nürburgring Than Predecessor
Porsche shared that the new 911 Hybrid was 8.7 seconds faster than its predecessor, they just didn’t tell us what that predecessor was.
Remember the days when someone would tell you that they drove a hybrid and all you could think of was that slow, ugly, joyless Toyota Prius? Well, in 2024 things are a bit different. Some top shelf sports cars such as the Ferrari 296 get a boost from hybrid power. Heck, even the 2024 Prius is a peppy little machine. Now Porsche is putting hybrid power in its most venerable model, the 911. The Porsche 911 Hybrid will be formally revealed on May 28. The excitement of the new model will take the sting out of heading back to the office after the Memorial Day holiday. There has been speculation for quite some time about the specifics of this 911 with an electric motor. Porsche gave us one specific recently, but even that detail was shrouded in a bit of mystery.
Porsche proudly announced that the 911 Hybrid completed a lap of the Nürburgring circuit in 7:16.934 minutes; 8.7 seconds faster than the corresponding version of the predecessor model. Cool. 8.7 seconds is a meaningful improvement, even on a large track like the Nürburgring. But what 911 model ran that time? As you know Porsche makes more 911 variants than Baskin-Robbins makes ice cream flavors. So, throwing a time out there without providing the specific model does not tell the whole story.
911 Hybrid GTS
Our friends at the Porsche Club of America also took note of the lack of a specific model called out in the Porsche news release and they did a bit of digging. They noted that the 992.1 Carrera GTS’s official lap time was 7:25.632, almost exactly 8.7 seconds slower than this new hybrid 911. So, it does stand to reason that the car that set the 7:16.934 lap time was a 992.2 Carrera GTS with the hybrid powertrain. Porsche brand ambassador and test development driver Jörg Bergmeister is the man that set the lap time. He said of the 911 Hybrid: “We have more grip, significantly more power, and the spontaneous response of the performance hybrid is a great advantage.”
Other Porsche 911 Hybrids
A hybrid unit can be a significant performance advantage. But since only one lap time was shared and if our assumption that it came from the GTS model is right, does this mean that only the GTS trim is going to get the hybrid powertrain? Maybe. We don’t yet know. Although it is likely that even if that is the case at launch, other 911 variants will receive hybrid power in the future.
Do Lap Times Matter?
OK, so the 911 Hybrid is faster. Does that matter to you? Does that make it better? Is shaving a few tenths or even whole seconds off a lap time at your next HPDE really that important? Even by the conservative Porsche estimates the current 992.1 GTS hits 60 mph in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 193 mph. Is that too slow for you? 911 fans had a fit when the model got a water-cooled engine. And many freaked out again when all 911 models (save the GT variants) got turbochargers. Performance improved each time, but some will argue that some driving purity and soul was lost. Does the hybrid again steal more soul in exchange for speed? And is the trade off worth it?
With the current push towards electrification, we should be happy we get any 911 that still uses any form of internal combustion. But at what point is your Porsche fast enough while still maintaining the character of the car that you fell in love with years ago? We can’t judge the new 911 Hybrid until it is formally revealed, and we drive it. But we do know one thing. It will be faster. If that matters.
Images: Porsche
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