2021 Porsche Panamera sets record at Nurburgring

The upgraded 2021 Porsche Panamera has taken to the track and set a new 'executive car lap record' at the Nurburgring.

Posting a video and pics of a lightly camouflaged facelifted Panamera, Porsche details how the refreshed performance sedan posted a 7:29.81 lap time with test driver Lars Kern behind the wheel.

That's around 13 seconds faster than the last time Kern attacked the Green Hell back in 2016, behind the wheel of an early second-gen Panamera Turbo prototype.

Curiously, for the 2020 record, Porsche hasn’t confirmed if it was the facelifted Turbo, but the 7:29 lap puts the four-door Porsche on par with sports cars like the Nissan GT-R (2009) and the latest Chevrolet C8 Corvette (2020).

Despite being quick, the 2021 Porsche Panamera's time is still shaded by its chief rival, the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-Door, which pips the Porsche with a 7:25.41 – although that time was recorded under an old timing regime that stopped the clock almost 200 metres early.

In the video, the 13-second improvement over the pre-facelifted Panamera Turbo comes thanks to a 59kW and 50Nm boost to the twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, raising total outputs to 463kW and 820Nm.

To deal with the extra performance, Porsche engineers then went ahead and ‘optimised’ the Panamera’s Turbo’s chassis, steering and active anti-roll stabilisation software to cope for faster cornering and enhanced body control.

Finally, the famous German sports car-maker teamed up with Michelin to develop a special Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyre that adds more grip.The rest was then up to Porsche test driver Kern to wring the neck of the facelifted Panamera and get the best time possible over the tortuous 20.832km toll road.

Porsche has confirmed it will reveal full details of the updated Panamera following its unveiling at the end of this month.