Volkswagen I.D. R sets new all‑electric Nürburgring lap record

The incredible feat comes a year after the I.D. R achieved similarly at Pikes Peak, completing the 12.4-mile Colorado hillclimb course in 7 minutes 57.148 seconds, more than 16 seconds faster than Sébastien Loeb’s Peugeot 208 T16 record.

And VW’s Pikes Peak pilot Romain Dumas was back at the wheel for today’s record attempt, albeit in a heavily modified I.D. R. Instead of the high-downforce Pikes Peak set up, the Nürburgring I.D. R features new elements on top of the splitter, a redesigned floor and a new rear wing.

The race car also boasts an F1-derived drag reduction system (DRS), which opens on the straights to reduce downforce by 20 per cent, meaning less battery power is required to propel the vehicle and increasing its top speed to in excess of 155mph.

Underneath the aero bodywork, however, the powertrain has remained the same, with an electric motor on both the front and back axles, powered by two lithium-ion battery blocks.

The two motors combine to produce a total of 670bhp and 649Nm of torque, which is half the output of the previous EV ‘Ring record holder – the 1,341bhp NIO EP9, which lapped the circuit in 6 minutes 45.9 seconds back in 2017.

Speaking ahead of the record attempt, four-time Nürburgring 24-hour race winner Dumas commented: “The Nürburgring-Nordschleife is my favourite racetrack. Although I have driven thousands of kilometres there, it always gives me goosebumps every time I leave the pit lane for the first time.

“Driving through sections of the track that are so steeped in history, like ‘Flugplatz’, ‘Fuchsröhre’ and the ‘Karussell’, is a very special feeling in the I.D. R, which is virtually silent.”

Photography by Frozenspeed.