'Tom's pace is pretty mind-blowing' – Tom Pidcock swaps two wheels for four to tackle fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife race track in Porsche 911

With the cycling off-season in full swing, Tom Pidcock has swapped two wheels for four, taking to the German motor racing circuit Nürburgring Nordschleife in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

The Briton has won world and Olympic titles on cyclo-cross and mountain bikes, but he's no slouch in the race car, either, joining Porsche brand ambassador Jörg Bergmeister for a track day at the legendary circuit in Germany's Eifel mountains.

Pidcock has previously recorded a 6:52.37 lap time around the fearsome 20.832km former Formula 1 circuit, which features 73 corners, leaving him just 27 seconds off the all-time lap record, set by Stefan Bellof in 1983.

The 27-year-old, who this year won Milano-Torino and finished ninth at the Tour de France, will soon be gearing up for his third season at Pinarello-Q36.5, where he'll be joined by new arrivals Giulio Ciccone, Mauro Schmid, and Ethan Hayter, among others. However, he took time away from the bike to explore the track with Manthey Kit on Wednesday.

"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. The parts storage, the packing lists – it's a similar world," Pidcock said of the company's headquarters, located near the famous 2km straight of the circuit.

"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.

"And personally, I think feeling is even more valuable than data when I'm trying to develop a bike. The Nordschleife is such an unpredictable place, and Porsche and Manthey manage to make the cars feel as predictable as possible for the people driving them."

This time around, Pidcock took on the challenging circuit in wetter conditions, and Bergmeister said that Pidcock's pace is particularly impressive given he isn't a regular at the track.

"I know a couple of pro and ex-pro cyclists, and the line and flow that it takes to do a smooth, quick lap comes naturally to these guys. Tom gets in and knows exactly what he's doing and has great feel for the car – and also no fear," he said.

"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. The advice I could give him is to simply focus on hitting the marks: braking points, turn-in points.

"But you can see it all comes naturally. I guess there's a reason why he's so good on the descents in cycle racing!"

Pidcock explained what drew him to the track and racing high-performance cars, such as the powerful Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

"I guess it's because it's about 'high performance', just like cycling is for me. It's the same mindset," he said.

"Driving, in general, is a pursuit of improvement, which is constant in what I do daily. But here there's no pressure – I can also enjoy the fact that I don't need to push it to the extreme limit. When I'm competing [in my career], there's always so much pressure, so on track it's nice that I can simply just compete with myself."

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