At times (pun intended), manufacturer Nürburgring lap records can be as frustrating as they are fascinating. The problem is the lack of an outright regulatory body to watch out for potential skullduggery. Things have become a lot more transparent in recent years, but the asterisk 'pre-production specification' occasionally still appears in the small print of triumphant press releases.

There is one independent source however who can be relied upon - German car magazine Sport Auto. Included within their rigorous testing regimen is a timed lap of the Nordschleife. Up until 2015 all Supertests were done by former chief editor and racer Horst von Saurma. Since 2015 the laps have all been done by Christian Gebhardt, a journalist who's had 17 starts at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. When a substitute is called for, the Sport Auto team ensures strict protocols are observed. Whilst the weather will always have a say in proceedings, this is as close as we’ll get to a level playing field.

If we’re being a mite pedantic, two factors technically rule out directly comparing historical times. First of all, thanks to constant safety improvements and circuit revisions, a lap today is reportedly several seconds faster than it was a decade or so ago. Secondly, tyre technology has advanced with staggering speed, pushing the limits of adhesion and tumbling lap times significantly under seven minutes. Twenty years ago, the ceiling for the fastest performance cars was eight minutes, and in terms of supercars, Walter Röhrl managed an impressive 7:28 against the stopwatch behind the wheel of the spiky Porsche Carrera GT. In the official Supertest, Von Saurma was only four seconds behind at 7:32.

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But thanks to Sport Auto and Porsche, we can now have some idea as to how much the game has moved on thanks to tyres. In order to showcase a new Michelin Cup 2 developed specifically for the Carrera GT, Porsche has been back to the Green Hell, this time with Porsche test development driver Jörg Bergmeister at the helm. With Sport Auto officiating, Bergmeister lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in just 7:12.69, vanquishing Röhrl’s time by 16 seconds, and Von Saurma’s by 20 - the more trustworthy barometer.

Porsche has commissioned the new Michelin by way of an apology to Carrera GT owners who haven’t been able to drive their car due to a critical suspension recall, and a prolonged rectification period. This is not the first time Porsche has ordered new tyres for the supercar - in 2013 Michelin announced a new Pilot Super Sport UHP tyre for the car. As interesting as it would be to chart the progress, sadly no attempt was made to record a lap.

Whilst the 7:12 doesn’t mean the Carrera GT leapfrogs to the sharp end of the current leaderboard, it does leave some modern, track biased high-performance cars red faced. A notable car in the rear-view mirror of a Cup 2 sporting Carrera GT is the 550bhp, Cup 2R shod BMW M4 CSL. It’s also worth remembering the Carrera GT also has no turbochargers, no significant downforce, outdated brakes, and has a manual transmission. No other changes were made to the car besides the new rubber. 

Like a fine wine, the Porsche Carrera GT is only getting better with age.