Damp Road Atlanta Track Can't Stop Porsche From Setting New EV Record

Miami Herald

17-06-2025

Porsche has broken its own production EV lap record at Road Atlanta, this time with the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT. Back in 2020, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S zipped around the 2.54-mile track in 1:33.88 minutes, and now Porsche has slashed another 6.73 seconds off that time. Piloted by brand ambassador Patrick Long, the newer and more powerful Taycan Turbo GT managed a time of 1:27.15 minutes last month. Although it was equipped with a few optional extras, adverse conditions made the latest Turbo GT's run even more impressive, and this achievement adds to the extreme EV's growing list of lap records.
Although the latest record was achieved with a stock Taycan Turbo GT (note that the pictures shown here aren't from Road Atlanta, but from Interlagos), the model was equipped with the optional Weissach Package. Interestingly, Porsche doesn't charge extra for this package - the Turbo GT costs $231,100 with or without it.
If you want to set the best lap times, the Weissach Package's enhancements include a special aero package, including a fixed rear wing with a carbon-weave finish and front aeroblades. This derivative weighs 4,925 pounds, 165 lbs less than the normal Turbo GT, and that's due to extreme weight-saving measures like the removal of the back seats.
These changes allow the Taycan Turbo GT to hit 60 mph in 2.1 seconds, a tenth quicker than the normal model, and reach 190 mph. Pirelli Trofeo RS tires also helped with traction.
"The new Taycan was so easy to get up to speed, and the brakes were amazing; there was absolutely no compromise in feel or power," said Long. "I didn't expect how powerful the Active Ride suspension would be in counteracting pitch, roll, and squat. Road Atlanta puts a lot of load into a car, and the hydraulics kept up with it without any issues, and made sure the tires were always at their best."
Porsche said that weather conditions changed throughout the day of the record attempt. Morning rain was followed by drier conditions later, with the temperature at around 75 degrees. At the time of the lap, the track was mostly dry, except for damp patches here and there. Porsche said the battery was at 97%, while the tire pressures were set to 37 psi. Using the Track Endurance Mode, the battery's starting temperature was 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
"To be on the safe side, we experimented with traction and stability control settings, Sport PSM and off, and found the car to work just fine with it in Sport; you could see the traction control working on the dash, but it was totally seamless from the drivers seat," said Long. "And finally, Attack Mode is intense, I never have felt such a smooth but intense burst of usable power in anything, including race cars!"
The Turbo GT was faster around the track than the Panamera Turbo S (1:31.51) and 718 Cayman GT4 (1:32.24).
The quickest production car overall (including both gas cars and EVs) was previously the 911 GT2 RS (991), with a time of 1:24.88. However, Chevrolet broke this record earlier in 2025 with the Corvette ZR1 with the ZTK Package, which achieved a blistering time of 1:22.80 minutes.
However, among EVs, Porsche remains untouchable.
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