It’s that time of the year again as major car manufacturers from around the world take to the Nurburgring to try to best their lap times from previous years. Two of the biggest names in the industry got their chance on the track over the weekend, with mixed reactions from their fans. Who laid the pedal to the metal this weekend and how did they do?

Porsche’s Green Beast

The bright green GT3RS 991.2 that Porsche brought to the iconic track blew away expectations. All three laps were under seven minutes, with the fastest of them coming in at six minutes and 56 seconds, according to onlookers.

This is a fantastic start to Porsche’s year, even if this model isn’t as fast at the GT2RS that they had on the track last September. It is still one of the fastest laps on the track so far this year. Only five cars have managed to hit that sub-seven-minute mark on what is arguably one of the most difficult tracks in the world — and three of them are Porsches — so that’s nothing to shake a stick at.

Chevy’s Disappointing Run

While Porsche had a banner run on the Nordschleife, Chevy didn’t do nearly as well. Their Corvette ZR1 clocked in at seven minutes, 12 seconds for its fastest lap this weekend, according to onlookers. While that might not sound much slower than the Porsche that drove earlier in the day, it’s still a disappointment for Chevy fans.

This is because the C6 Corvette ZR1 that made the same run in 2012 set the bar pretty high at seven minutes 19 seconds. The fact that the new ZR1 only managed to shave seven seconds off that time is a tough pill to swallow and frankly a hard one to believe. After all, the C7 ZR1 absolutely destroyed all previous records, including the Ford GT’s, when it lapped Virginia Internation Raceways earlier this year.

It’s entirely possible that these slower lap times were due to something that observers at the track weren’t able to see — there could have been a problem with the Corvette’s engine mid-lap, or there could have been a rain shower or other problem that caused the car to slow down slightly. Chevy is likely disappointed with the times as well since they were trying so hard for that sub seven-minute time, so you probably won’t see a lot of press about them.

Chevy Is Still in It

However, Chevrolet is likely not finished testing at the historic track and will likely be back to fight again another day. Hopefully, we won’t have too long to wait to find out if the ZR1 was able to crest the coveted sub-seven-minute mark, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that an official Nurburgring time for the C7 ZR1 will never be released if it falls short. We are, after all, still waiting for an “official” Nurburgring lap time for the C7 Z06 (don’t hold your breath) – though Sport Auto’s Christian Gebhardt managed the trip in 7:13.90 behind the wheel of a C7Z. Chevy still has a dog in the race, so to speak, so don’t count them out quite yet, even if they’re a little disappointed with their track times so far.

Images: bridgetogantry