Honda wanted to prove that the new Civic Type R dominates other front-wheel-drive cars. A lap record does that nicely.
The 2023 Honda Civic Type R is making a name for itself at racetracks around the world. It’s now claimed the new Nurburgring lap record for front-wheel-drive cars with a hot lap around the Green Hell.
Honda set the new record on March 24, 2023. The lap of 7:44.881 was recorded on the full-length 20.832 km (12.944 miles) circuit, as per official procedure since 2019. As is the custom, Honda has released a full video of the record lap as verification of its feat.
The time was set on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 Connect tires. Michelin created the new tires based on knowledge gained through the development of the Pilot Sport 4S tire, which comes as standard on the Type R. Notably, eager owners looking for more grip on track will be able to purchase Cup 2 Connect tires through their local dealership.
It comes six years after Honda last claimed the front-wheel-drive production car lap record with the previous generation FK8 Civic Type R. The old model set a time of 7:43.8 seconds, using a development model that was considered “representative” of the production version. Sharp-eyed pundits will note this lap time is a lower number than the new model’s record. That’s because the previous record was measured by Honda on the older 20.6 km circuit, back in 2017 before the Nurburgring maintained its own published list of official records.
It’s no surprise the new Type R was able to lay down a new record. The previous model had scored the fastest front-wheel-drive lap with 316 horsepower as sold in Europe and Japan. The new model got a small but meaningful bump up to 325 hp in those markets, though it only has 316 hp in the US. An extra nine horsepower might not sound like much, but around a 7-minute lap, it shaves off some time. Better tires and revised suspension also help give the new model an edge.
It’s not the only lap record Honda has set with the new Type R. It already bested the previous model by almost a second at Suzuka, laying down a scorching 2:23.120 last year. Given Honda took the previous model on a world tour, setting laptimes everywhere from Spa-Francorchamps to The Bend, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more records broken by the latest Type R as well.
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