This year’s Geneva Motor Show has seen a good concentration of new supercar introductions. Lamborghini unveiled the new Aventador LP700-4, a successor to the Murcielago LP-670-4 SuperVeloce, and Pagani took the wraps off the Huayra.

German manufacturer Gumpert is taking its turn now with the Tornante. The Tornante succeeds the Apollo supercar that debuted in 2005. Like Pagani, Gumpert focuses on delivering a more refined experience with increased performance.

The Tornante is definitely more aesthetically pleasing than its Apollo forebear. Gumpert worked with Italian coachbuilding manufacturer Touring Superleggera on the car’s design.

The Apollo was a very over-the-top and in-your-face design with many different surface elements going on. The Tornante gets a smoothened out appearance that improves aerodynamics and reduces visual busyness.

Up front there is a large grille with redesigned front intakes working in concert with smaller, more modern headlamps. Key elements from the Apollo like the cabin-mounted rear view mirrors and gull-wing doors remain. A smoothened body shoulder runs to the rear of the car, turning into large, flowing haunches. The rear gives of a bit of an old Corvette vibe, with dual taillights at each corner and a split rear window. The car’s main inspiration overall seems to be taken from aviation.

The Superleggera (Italian for “super light”) in Touring Superleggera is definitely in full effect for the Tornante. The body is made from composite, with a chrome-molybdenum steel space frame and a carbon fiber monocoque.

Official performance specifications have yet to be released, but the car sticks with Audi-sourced power, using the Apollo’s 4.2-liter twin-turbo V-8. Gumpert, of course, did some reengineering that results in a power output of 700 horsepower and 663 pound feet of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed automatic.

The Tornante is set to go on sale in 2012, and the company says an even more powerful performance version in the works, planned for a launch around the same time.

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First let’s get the obvious out of the way: Gumpert is pretty funny name, and the Apollo is not the most esthetically pleasing of cars

OK, now that that’s done, seems that the fine folk at Gumpert have added a hybrid drive train to their already prodigiously powered Apollo and are going to race the darn thing at this year’s Nurburgring 24 hour race.

Good for them.

Racing is the best way to prove an engineering concept. It’s also the best way to get the bugs worked out of an engineering concept. And not only that, it’s a great way to sell new engineering concepts to the general public.

I know, hybrids have been more or less accepted by the public at large (except for the knuckle-draggers that believe global warming is some sort of a scam), but what the general public does not see hybrids as is fun or the least bit performance oriented.

The best way to cure that: Racing.

And a good way to go about that is to add a hybrid system to a car that already cranks out 630hp from its twin-turbo V8, put it in the very capable hands of former F1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen & longtime DTM racer Dirk Muller and let the beast out on the Nurburgring .

It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out, and not just results-wise.

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