The FK8 Honda Civic Type R arrived in 2017 and promptly swept all before it, most notably becoming the fastest ever front-wheel drive car to lap the Nurburgring as well as several other major circuits.
So the new one—seen here in a camo wrap for the first time back in October—has a rather tough act to follow. And we’ve just received our first bit of evidence suggesting it’s more than up to the challenge.
Honda has announced that the new Type R has set a front-wheel drive lap record at Suzuka, one of the most demanding circuits on the F1 calendar and home to fabled sections like the S Curves and the 130R corner.
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In its final development phase last month, the FL-gen Type R lapped the 5.8km track in 2min23.120sec, shaving 0.873sec off the previous best of the hardcore Limited Edition model set in 2020, shortly before life as we know it went out the window.
Still no word on what powertrain configuration is being used to make that next step in speed and performance, but Honda says it’ll share more info ahead of the car’s European launch later in 2022. For now, you can check out the on-board footage of the Type R’s new lap record below.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
