Porsche bosses take aim at Lamborghini

There's nothing like sibling rivalry.

Porsche and Lamborghini are the most driver-focused brands in the Volkswagen Group, building sports cars like the 911 and Huracan that offer thrills on road and track.

The German marque unveiled its fastest-ever 911 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Friday, where senior executives aimed thinly veiled jabs at their Italian cousins.

Lamborghini set social media alight in March when its ultra-light Huracan Performante eclipsed the Nurburging production car lap record held by Porsche's 918 Spyder.

Scepticism surrounding the considerably less powerful Lambo's 6m52s lap time provoked the Italian brand to reveal detailed data surrounding Marco Mapelli's run.

Porsche's top brass do not seem convinced.

Speaking at the launch of the new GT2 RS, Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger told Drive the new machine "really is a beast".

"We call it King Kong internally, and it's really the upmost performance that the 911 platform can offer at the moment.

"We wanted to show the world we are very interested in lap times. We wanted to stay on pole position and this is a car that will definitely crush the competition on the track regarding lap times."

The obvious question, then, is whether Porsche has had a crack at wrestling its Nurburgring time back from Lamborghini.

"We haven't had the chance," Preuninger says.

"This is the first series production car – the main work dialling the car in will start now, it will go all summer long.

"There's a lot to be done to get the last 10 per cent out of it – 90 per cent of the work is done in 10 per cent of the time. For the rest of the 10 per cent you need 90 per cent more."

Pressed as to whether it can beat the Huracan's sub-seven minute run, the Porsche man says "if both cars are coming straight from the dealership, I'm sure we can".

That could be interpreted as a stab at Lamborghini's contender, suggesting the car Mapelli used was somewhat perkier than what Huracan customers can expect.

Porsche motorsport boss Frank-Steffen Walliser appears to agree with that notion.

"Let me make one remark on the Nordschleife," he says.

"If we go to the Nurburgring we use the tyres we sell to the customers, we use the engine the customer will have in his car. It's the Porsche approach.

"I'm not going for laptimes that the customer cannot achieve. Full stop.

"It's no comparison to competitors, but this is how we do it."

While Porsche does not know exactly how fast its new car will be around the world's toughest circuit, it's clear that the brand is confident in its performance.

"This is the seventh generation of the 911, it's all about the seven, [such as] 700 horsepower," Walliser says.

"It's no seven on the Nurburgring... Maybe it's a 7m 06s.                                            

"Maybe we'll see."

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