Honda has officially confirmed that its new turbocharged Civic Type-R is capable of completing a lap of the Nurburgring north loop in Germany.

The Civic was clocked at 7 minutes 50.63 seconds, which makes nearly four seconds a lap faster than the Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R, and this isn’t even the stripped out version of the Honda!

The automaker did not provide a video for us to watch, but it did confirm that the time was achieved late in the testing phase, using a prototype that had production-spec everything.

They do concede that air-con, the passenger’s seat and all audio equipment have been removed to save weight, but only for the roll cage to add that weight back and obviously make it safer for the driver.

The Civic Type-R will make its debut later at the Geneva motor show.

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