It has been almost two years since the 2017 Honda Civic Type R set a new front-wheel drive production car record at the Nürburgring. For two years, that record stood strong, only beaten very recently by a French rival.
With a time of 7 minutes 40.1 seconds, the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R beat the Civic by almost four seconds on the 20-kilometre track.
The Megane RS Trophy-R that set this new record is based on the standard Megane RS Trophy, and uses the same 1.8-litre turbocharged engine. It produces 219kW and 420Nm of torque.
While it's running the same powertrain, the main differences lie in the chassis — this one weighs 130kg less than the standard Trophy, and has a more aerodynamic body. Engineers also tuned the suspension to make sure that it sticks to the track when pushing for these crazy times.
When you compare these figures with its Japanese counterpart, the Tropy-R has more torque, but less power than the Civic.
Considering that a revised Civic was spotted on the Nürburgring recently, it is going to be interesting to see if the Type R challenges this new record.
The next time we see this Trophy-R will be at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix that is happening this weekend. Renault drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg will be behind the wheel of this incredibly hot hatch there.
As you might expect with a caged hatchback like this one, only a few hundred models will be released to the public before the end of this year.