When Honda said that its newest Civic Type R would go on a European vacation and break lap records along the way last March, we’re starting to wonder: how is it doing? Well, it seems the venerable hot hatch has had its fill of croissants, waffles, and fish and chips while smashing the lap record in three circuits.

The carbs don’t seem to be slowing the Type R down as it’s now crowned as the fastest front-wheel drive production car in Magny-Cours in France, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, and Silverstone (GP Circuit) in the United Kingdom.

The 4.4-kilometer Magny-Cours circuit was the first in the Civic Type R’s targets with World Touring Car Cup driver Esteban Guerrieri behind the wheel. With a mix of slow hairpins, high-speed chicanes, and long straights, the Civic Type R’s comprehensive aerodynamic package and adaptive damper system enabled it to claim a lap time of 2 minutes 1.51 seconds.


A month later, the Civic Type R traveled to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium where it lapped the challenging circuit n just 2 minutes 53.72 seconds, this time with Super GT racer Bertrand Baguette. At 7.004 kilometers, this circuit is one of the longest tracks of any racing discipline and combines both technical low-speed sections and significant elevation changes.

The latest record to tumble was at the Silverstone GP Circuit in the United Kingdom. With British Touring Car Championship Matt Neal, it broke the 5.89-kilometer track record by registering a lap time of 2 minutes 31.32 seconds.

All in all, the Honda Civic Type R has already broken 4 lap records: Magny Cours, Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone, and of course, the mother of them all: the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

The Honda Civic Type R will now move to Portugal to sample its egg tarts and naturally, try to break the record at the Estoril Circuit.