Nurburgring EV Lap Record Changes Hands But Stays In China

• The Yangwang U9 Extreme just took the Nurburgring lap record from the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra.
• The U9 Extreme has about double the horsepower of the SU7 Ultra and it managed to beat its time by just under 5 seconds.
• Porsche is working on an even more extreme version of the Taycan to try to reclaim the record for Europe.

Having the quickest car around the Nurburgring Nordschleife comes with bragging rights since it’s a very difficult achievement requiring extensive technical know-how and testing. It’s a notoriously tricky (and long) track that requires vehicles to not only be fast, but also handle and brake well to be able to produce a good lap time. The record for the fastest lap around the Ring falls periodically as quicker and quicker cars burst onto the scene, and now it’s BYD’s turn to claim it.

BYD-owned Yangwang has been making waves recently with its U9 electric supercar, which was very quick in standard form, but it also received a ludicrous 3,000-horsepower special version capable of hitting a top speed of 308.33 mph (496.22 km/h). It’s called the U9 Extreme, formerly Track Edition, because it’s not just meant to be fast in a straight line.

To prove how good it is around a track, BYD took the record from another blisteringly quick Chinese EV, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, with a lap time of 6:59.157—check out the onboard video, where the car looks so fast it feels like the video has been sped up. The previous record held by the Xiaomi stood at 7:04.957, which made it quicker than both the Rimac Nevera and the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT.

Porsche is looking to bring the lap record back home to Germany with an even more extreme version of the Taycan that has been spotted testing around the Nurburgring. It features a widebody kit with louvers on the front fenders, just like a 911 GT2 RS, and a complete aero package topped by a massive adjustable rear wing.

It also needs considerably more power than today’s most powerful variant, the Turbo GT, which has just over 1,000 horsepower. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra has over 1,500 hp while the Yangwang U9 Extreme has a tarmac-tearing 3,000 hp. The Porsche will probably have less than either of them, but will be able to put its power down better and thanks to Porsche’s decades of sports car making experience, it should be quicker through the corners too.

One Chinese car taking the EV Nurburgring lap record from another Chinese rival, but requiring double the horsepower and a dedicated supercar model to achieve it, is not a situation we would have anticipated even a few years ago. Now Porsche is playing catch-up, making a special Taycan variant to take back the record. What a time to be alive.