Tom Pidcock drives a 911 GT3 RS, and not for show. The double Olympic mountain bike champion owns a 992.1-generation 911 GT3 RS fitted with the Manthey Kit, and he takes it to the Nordschleife. On 4 November 2026, the Porsche Newsroom published an account of a track day he spent at the Nürburgring with Jörg Bergmeister, Porsche brand ambassador and development driver.
The number everyone has picked up on is 6:52.37. Porsche says that is the bridge-to-gantry time Pidcock set on the Nordschleife in 2026.
Who Tom Pidcock is
The Briton is 27. He won Olympic gold in cross-country mountain biking at Tokyo 2020 and again at Paris 2024, holds a cyclo-cross world title and has won major road races. Cyclingnews adds that in 2026 he won Milano-Torino and finished ninth at the Tour de France, with a third season at Pinarello-Q36.5 ahead.
The car habit is not new. In May 2026 Cycling Weekly reported on onboard footage Pidcock had posted himself, filmed in his GT3 RS on the loop during a rest week before the summer races.
6:52.37, and why the record comparisons miss the mark
It is a quick time, and several outlets have set it against the all-time Nordschleife lap record. That comparison does not work.
Bridge-to-gantry is the time taken during public driving sessions, from the entry bridge to the exit gantry. As Cycling Weekly explained, that loop leaves out part of the main straight. Manufacturer lap times are set on the full 20.832 km layout.
Manthey has published an official lap for the same specification of car. A 992.1 GT3 RS with Manthey Kit, driven by Bergmeister, covered the full 20.832 km in 6:45.389 on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres, with a notary present. That is nearly four seconds quicker than the standard car. The two times are measured over different distances, so subtracting one from the other tells you nothing.
What does stand is that a 6:52 bridge-to-gantry puts Pidcock well up among the amateurs who lap the Ring.
A wet day at Manthey
The day started cold and very wet. With the track flooded, Bergmeister and Pidcock began with a tour of Manthey, based a stone’s throw from Döttinger Höhe, the Nordschleife’s two-kilometre straight.
Pidcock recognised the setting straight away. « The organisation of the race team and where all the parts are feels very similar to how we have our service course in the cycling team, » he said. Parts storage, packing lists: the same world.
One point mattered more to him. « What I’ve learned from Manthey is that, if you’re developing a car at the Nürburgring, the data doesn’t tell you everything. You have to use feeling. » He says the same applies when he works on a bike.
By early afternoon conditions improved. The pair went out on Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 tyres, the wet-weather option for the GT3 RS, and Bergmeister was struck by how quickly Pidcock was on his tail. As the line dried, dry tyres went on and Bergmeister suggested a few damper adjustments.
His verdict, as quoted by Porsche: « For someone who isn’t here regularly, Tom’s pace is pretty mind-blowing. There are people on the Ring every day who go slower. » His advice was short: hit the marks, braking points and turn-in points. And he offered a theory about where the feel comes from: there is a reason Pidcock descends so well on a bike.
What the Manthey Kit changes
Manthey’s kit for the 911 GT3 RS works on three areas: suspension, brakes and aerodynamics. For the 992.1 car, Manthey quotes more than a tonne of downforce at 285 km/h with no increase in drag, and a semi-active suspension developed specifically for the car that adapts to speed and lateral acceleration.
« It’s all the little details, » Bergmeister said, « working and tweaking everything to bring the full system and the full package together. »
Pidcock’s own explanation of the appeal is simple: it is about high performance, just like cycling. The difference is the pressure, or the lack of it. On track he is only competing with himself.
Manthey also ran the Porsche that won the 2026 DTM drivers’ title, a story we covered in our piece on Thomas Preining’s DTM championship. For another Nürburgring link, see our report on the 911 GT3 100 Jahre Nürburgring edition. And the full background of the GT3 line is in our French-language history L’histoire de la Porsche 911 GT3 (in French).
Sources: Porsche Newsroom, « Olympian Tom Pidcock tackles the Nürburgring in his 911 GT3 RS with Manthey Kit », 4 November 2026; Manthey, « 6:45,389 minutes: Porsche 911 GT3 RS Manthey Kit sets official lap time on the Nordschleife »; Cycling Weekly, 7 May 2026; Cyclingnews, 6 November 2026.
Laisser un commentaire