Aston Martin Valkyrie “a contender” for Nurburgring record
Red Bull Racing boss reckons upcoming hypercar can take the fight to Porsche
Christian Horner, principal of the Red Bull Racing team, reckons the Aston Martin Valkyrie is capable of toppling the Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record recently set by the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo.
Speaking with Race Fans, Horner argued a Formula One car would not be capable of beating Porsche's record, instead telling the publication the 919 Evo has already eclipsed the track capability of F1 racers.
"I’m not sure a Formula 1 car could actually do it," he said. "The problem is their LMP1 car broke the record in Spa which was beating a Formula 1 car time".
The Red Bull Racing boss did say, however, that the upcoming Aston Martin Valkyrie hybrid hypercar is a "contender" for lap record glory.
"I think that the Valkyrie, certainly the track version of the Valkyrie, could be a contender," he said.
As reported earlier this week, the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo – a modified version of the LMP1 race car – lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in a blistering 5 minutes 19.55 seconds, smashing the 35-year-old record set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 C by more than 51 seconds.
In AMR Pro guise (pictured), the Valkyrie is capable of creating 1000kg of downforce at full tilt, helping to keep the 1000kg and circa-820kW (1100hp) hypercar on the tarmac.
Aston Martin claims the Valkyrie AMR Pro can pull 3.0G in corners, and hit a top speed of 360km/h.
Just 25 examples of the track-only variant will be built – and they've all reportedly been sold already – in addition to the 150 'standard' road-going units.
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