Lamborghini Huracan sets new Nurburgring record

Italian car-maker Lamborghini has confirmed its Huracan Performante coupe is the world's fastest production car around Germany’s Nurburgring, after posting an official lap time of 6min52.01sec.

The highly-anticipated new model completely smoked the previous lap record of the 20.6km course by more than five seconds – which may be the time it takes to yawn, but is an eternity on the race track.

As predicted, the exotic Lambo's searing lap time knocks the million-dollar Porsche 918 Spyder off its perch as the quickest production car around the 'Ring, comfortably beating the hypercar's time of 6min57.73sec.

Marco Mapelli was the man of the moment, pulling the lap together despite only having a 15 minute window to play with. Bravo, mate!

All the secret herbs and spices that make the Lamborghini Huracan Performante a blisteringly rapid vehicle will be revealed at the 2017 Geneva motor show on March 7, but we know the car employs several weight-saving measures and more power to achieve record-breaking levels of performance.

Weight is expected to drop from the Huracan's 1422kg to around 1322kg via the use of advanced "forged composites" that are said to rival carbon-fibre in terms of rigidity and weight. Power from the vehicle's 5.2-litre V10 is likely to swell from 448kW up to as much as 490kW, giving the car an extra kick in the cods.

Another secret to the car's frenetic pace is the adoption of new active aerodynamics. The Lamborghini Huracan Performante can adjust its front spoiler on the run, and even pipe air through the struts of the rear wing. The latter can increase downforce for more grip when needed, or dial it back for higher top speeds.

The active aero system, dubbed Aerodynamica Lamborghini Attiva, is understood to be able to work independently on the left and right sides of the vehicle, vectoring the airflow to improve grip over one side of the car, such as during a high-speed, wide-open corner.

"Together with [R&D boss] Maurizio Reggiani we agreed during the car's development that with the technical and performance prowess of the Huracán Performante, not only was a sub seven-minute lap at the Nordschleife possible, but the lap record too," said Domenicali.

"We wanted to achieve the Nürburgring victory in advance of the Performante's launch, which was a challenge in terms of weather and availability of the Nordschleife," said the savvy CEO, which will add to the vehicle's pedigree and potentially allow the brand to add a premium to the price.

But as the video shows, the car tops out at 304km/h in seventh gear, the engine revving to 7700rpm, showing the naturally-aspirated V10 delivering on its performance promise.

"Not only did we take the lap record, we took it by some seconds!" said Domenicali.

"To make this happen is something that every one of the R&D team who worked on this car can share in: it will forever be a defining moment in their careers.

"I am so proud of everything achieved by Lamborghini people that day and extremely privileged to have witnessed it," he added.

The Huracan Performante features a four-wheel drive system along with the Lamborghini Piattaforma Inerziale, essentially an adaptive chassis that adjusts settings according to demand. Tyres used were tarmac-rally style Pirelli Trofeo R tyres, which will be "available" on the production cars.

Stay tuned for more details on this brutal new bull from the 2017 Geneva motor show.