Volkswagen has claimed the production car lap record for vehicles with front-wheel drive at Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife race track.

The company’s newly launched Golf GTI Edition 50, driven by VW test and development driver Benjamin Leuchter lapped the 20.832-kilometre circuit in 7:44.523 minutes.

It cracked the best lap time by about a third of a second over the previous record holder, the Honda Civic Type R (FL5), which was achieved back in 2023 with a time of 7:44.881 minutes.

About Golf GTI Edition 50

Volkswagen doesn’t sell the Golf GTI Edition 50 in Canada. The car is a special edition car to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GTI. It builds on the Golf GTI, which is sold here.

The Edition 50 car has 320 hp and can rocket from zero to 100 km/h in 5.3 seconds.

It also features a MacPherson front axle and a four-link rear axle and rides 15 millimetres lower than a regular Golf. It also has adaptive chassis control.

---