Europe's most hardcore, lightweight supercars have been known to set some of the fastest lap times at the Nürburgring – which, fickle as it may be, is about as close a reliable measure of performance as you're going to find. The Lamborghini Huracan Performante, for example, clocked a lap time of 6:52.01 three years ago. The Porsche 911 GT2 RS ran even quicker at 6:47.25 (or 6:40.33 in quasi-legitimate Manthey Racing spec). But what about their arguably closest competitor?
Ferrari doesn't typically compete for those particular bragging rights, but the unofficial scribes of the Green Hell have provided the answer that Maranello won't. Or an answer, at any rate.
During its latest "supertest," Germany's Sport Auto magazine brought a Ferrari 488 Pista out to the Nordschleife a posted a rather blistering lap time of just a smidge over seven minutes – 7:00.03, to be specific. Not as quick as the GT2 or the Huracan, mind you, but it's quicker than most any other street-legal car has ever lapped the infamous circuit. Faster than the Dodge Viper ACR and Mercedes-AMG GT R Pro, and everything (for that matter) this side of the Lamborghini Aventador SV and SVJ, Porsche 918 Spyder and 911 GT3 RS, a couple of barely streetable Radicals, and the aforementioned GT2 and Huracan.
Of course, we can't speak to the conditions at the time of the test. Sport Auto's test driver Christian Gebhardt is undoubtedly one of the world's Nürburgring experts. But as the test was conducted just days ago in the cold of a German mid-October, the track may have been colder than it was in the summer months when most of those other laps were clocked. Then again, that may have helped the engine breathe cooler air than it would have in hotter ambient temperatures. So take from it what you will. For our part, we'll call the feat pretty impressive.