Estoril, Portugal - The Honda Civic Type R Challenge car has continued its triumphant progress across Europe by setting a new lap record for a front-wheel drive production car on road tyres of 2m01.84s at this difficult circuit.
The 4.2 kilometre Estoril layout includes a very long (986 metres) main straight, two hairpins and a difficult chicane, with significant elevation changes and some nasty bumps, placing a premium on stability under braking, accurate turn-in and acceleration out of slow corners.
The record lap was set by works Honda World Touring Car driver, and local hero, Tiago Monteiro, who said afterwards: ”We came here to beat the lap record set by the previous Civic Type R but you can never take anything for granted – I mean it’s a lap record so it’s no easy feat.”
This was the fourth front-wheel drive lap record set by the Civic Type R in 2018, following record lap times at Magny-Cour, Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone - all set by different drivers. And it’s the fifth by the new Type R, following a front-wheel drive production car lap record of 7m43.8s at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in April 2017.