Honda Civic Type R claims new lap record at Hungaroring

In the fifth and final of a planned series of lap record attempts across Europe in 2018, Honda has set a new 2 minute and 10.19 second record for a front-wheel drive production car at the Hungaroring GP circuit in Hungary.

The Civic Type R, driven by Formula One World Champion and current NSX Super GT driver, Jenson Button, pounded the twisty and narrow 4.38km track with a full factory setup including its 2.0-litre turbocharged powerplant and adaptive dampers.

Speaking about the lap record, Jenson Button said: “We came here to the Hungaroring, where I won my first F1 race in 2006 with Honda, to set a new front-wheel drive production lap record in the new Type R, and I’m very happy that we did it!”

Commenting on the Type R itself, Button added: “The first thing I noticed when I left the pit lane was how neutral the car was. I come from a background that is not front-wheel drive focused, so it was very different for me but because the Type R is so well balanced it was instantly really enjoyable and more natural.

The thing that surprised me most is how late you can brake with this car. The manual gearbox works really well, too. Most cars these days don’t come with manual boxes, so it’s nice to have that manual feel. You always feel a lot more connected to the car.”

Honda set the original benchmark time for Hungaroring during a similar challenge in 2016, using the previous-generation Civic Type R. This new benchmark time is the fifth front-wheel drive lap record set by Honda in The Type R Challenge 2018, achieving the objective set out by the challenge, which was thought up after the Type R became the fastest front-wheel drive production car ever round the Nürburgring Nordschleife in April 2017, with a lap time of 7mins 43.8secs.

The challenge saw five of Honda’s racing champions put the car through its paces around five tracks in Europe, setting new record lap times for a front-wheel drive production car.

  • WTCR driver Tiago Monteiro set a lap record of 2mins 01.84secs at Estoril ciruit in Portugal
  • BTCC legend Matt Neal set a lap record of 2mins 31.32secs at Silverstone in the UK
  • Japanese Super GT star, Betrand Baguette, set a record of 2mins 53.72secs at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium
  • WTCR driver, Esteban Guerrieri set a new 2mins 1.51secs lap at the Magny-Cours GP circuit in France.

Watch the latest record smashing lap in the video below.

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