Honda Civic Type R Is Fastest Front-Wheel-Drive Car At Magny-Cours

In a variety of tests, the latest Honda  Civic Type R is proving to be among the best front-wheel-drive performance cars on the market. To affirm the hot hatch's capabilities once again, Honda's new CTR now holds the the lap record around France's Magny-Cours Grand Prix circuit for front-drive production cars. FIA World Touring Car Cup driver Esteban Guerrieri lapped the 2.73-mile (4.4-kilometer) track in 2:01.51.

The Civic Type R that Guerrieri drove was a production-spec example with road-legal tires. It was in the European tune with 316 horsepower (235 kilowatts) and 295 pound-feet (400 Newton-meters of torque), versus the ratings of 306 hp and 295 lb-ft of the examples in the United States.

Honda's next goal is to set similar records at four more European circuits: Estoril in Portugal, Hungaroring in Hungary, Silverstone in England, and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The company has quite a talented driver lineup to attempt to set these quick lap times, including former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, World Touring Car Cup driver Tiago Monteiro, Super GT racer Bertrand Baguette, and British Touring Car Championship star Matt Neal.

Even if the these drivers can't take the Civic Type R on record-setting runs, Honda can still tout that the hot hatch is also the fastest front-drive production car around the Nürburgring Nordschleife from a lap in 7:43.8.

The 2018 Civic Type R arrives at dealers in the U.S. later this year, and Honda increases its base price by $605 to $35,595, including $895 destination. The new model year doesn't bring any significant changes, but the hot hatch's cost still undercuts competitors like the Ford Focus RS and Volkswagen Golf R.