Fourteen official lap times in eleven vehicle categories – from electric prototypes to near-series touring station wagons. At the official record attempts in 2025, a wide variety of manufacturers and vehicles once again took on the challenge of the Nordschleife. The fastest lap of the year went to China, the most extraordinary to the USA – and the all-time record remains in Germany.

Every year, the official Nürburgring record drives demonstrate the performance capabilities of a wide variety of vehicles at the Nürburgring. The terrain: the legendary Nordschleife. With a length of 20.832 kilometers, over 300 meters of elevation difference, and 73 turns per lap, it is considered one of the toughest tests in the automotive world. It is the relentless yardstick for every vehicle – whether prototype, production model, combustion engine or electric. Here, performance means not only speed, but absolute resilience under extreme conditions. The record attempts take place under specified conditions. With calibrated measurement technology, under the supervision of TÜV Rheinland and a notary, and sorted according to the vehicle segments of the Federal Motor Transport Authority.

20 record slots – 14 officially communicated times
20 so-called record slots – time slots exclusively rented by companies for record attempts lasting up to a whole day – are documented for 2025. In the end, 14 vehicles and times made it into the communication – from electric super sports cars to powerful station wagons to spectacular prototypes. The latter also account for most of the officially measured and communicated times in the overall overview of the year. In 2025, seven vehicles were able to have their performance certified by a notary in the prototype/pre-production model category.

Prototype from China with the fastest time of the year – all-time record remains unchanged
The annual ranking of record-breaking drives is led by the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Prototype, which was driven around the Nordschleife by David Pittard in 6:22.091 minutes on April 1 of this year. This means that the fastest time in 2025 goes to the Chinese electric car. The second-fastest time also comes from the same category. The vehicle itself was probably the most unusual sight of the year: the Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck. The all-electric vehicle from the Ford Performance Demonstrator program, with Romain Dumas at the wheel, took just 6:43.482 minutes to complete a lap in August of this year. Drew Cattell was only six seconds slower in June with the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X (6:49.275 minutes). However, the fastest lap measured in an official record attempt remains unbroken in 2025 and has now stood for seven years. The fabulous time of 5:19.546 minutes set in 2018 by Timo Bernhard in the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo on the asphalt of the Nordschleife.

Three times under seven minutes in the sports car category
In the sports car (combustion engine) category, three models remained below the magical seven-minute mark in 2025, demonstrating their high performance and dynamic precision. The fastest here in 2025 was the Ford Mustang GTD, which was driven across the finish line by Dirk Müller in 6:52.072 minutes on April 9, 2025. Just a few tenths behind was the Porsche 911 GT3 (992.2) with Manthey Performance Kit, driven by the newly crowned DTM champion Ayhancan Güven, with a measured time of 6:52.981 minutes. The trio is completed by the Porsche 911 GT3, driven by Jörg Bergmeister, who achieved a time of 6:56.294 minutes on April 8, 2025. The fastest vehicle in the category remains the Porsche 991 GT2 RS with Manthey Performance Kit, with which Lars Kern took just 6:43.300 minutes for a lap in 2021. And the fastest road car of all time also remains on its throne: the Mercedes-AMG ONE (6:29.090 | Supercar category (combustion engine) | Driver Maro Engel | driven in 2024).

Fastest station wagon and fastest compact car of all time from BMW
BMW entered the official Nürburgring record books in two combustion engine categories in 2025. With Jörg Weidinger at the wheel, the BMW M2 CS first took the top spot in the compact class with a time of 7:25.534 minutes, followed by the BMW M3 CS Touring in the mid-size car rankings. The latter became the fastest “station wagon” on the legendary Nordschleife across all classes. Two other production vehicles secured their places among the electric-powered cars. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra with Track Package (driver: Vincent Radermecker) took the top spot in the luxury class (electric) with a time of 7:04.957 minutes. The YANGWANG U9 Xtreme – category: super sports car (electric) – with Moritz Kranz at the wheel broke the 7-minute barrier and crossed the official finish line after exactly 6:59.157 minutes.

Record-breaking drives as a globally visible result of intensive development
“The official record-breaking drives are much more than just a media-effective format: they are the culmination of a long technical development process and showcase the engineering achievements and performance capabilities of modern vehicles,” explains Nürburgring Managing Director Christian Stephani. “Many companies have been developing their vehicles and components on the Nordschleife for years – often far away from the public eye. The record-breaking laps are the highly visible result of this intensive work. The diversity of the officially measured lap times in 2025 impressively demonstrates the role the Nordschleife plays for manufacturers worldwide – as a stage, a testing ground, and a development 

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