Renault Megane R.S. Trophy-R takes front-drive Nurburgring record

Almost exactly two years after the 2017 Honda Civic Type R set a new front-wheel-drive production car record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, it lost it. The new record holder is the Renault Megane R.S. Trophy-R with a time of 7 minutes 40.1 seconds. That’s 3.7 seconds faster than the Civic on the roughly 13-mile racetrack. You can see the record lap, which was set on April 5, above.

As for the record-setting Renault, it’s based on the Renault Megane R.S. Trophy and uses the same turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four making 295 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. Where it differs is in weight savings and improved suspension. Exact details aren’t available on the chassis upgrades, but the Trophy-R weighs about 287 pounds less than the regular Trophy model.

More details on the Megane R.S. Trophy-R will come with its full reveal on May 24. It goes on sale in Europe by the end of the year, and production will be limited to a few hundred units. Obviously, it won’t be available in the U.S. But at least we still get the former record holder Civic Type R, and it’s not a super limited-production car.