Volkswagen ID R Electric ‘Racer’ takes Nurburgring EV record

The Volkswagen ID R – VW’s electric ‘racer, designed to show what an electric car can do – has broken the Nurburgring record for an electric car.

Now Volkswagen wants to be known as a champion of ‘clean’ electric, and not ‘clean’ diesel, it’s been going to some lengths to big-up the future of electric cars by demonstrating potentially appealing cars, which just happen to be powered by electric motors, can be just as diverse and interesting as ICE cars.

At the performance end of VW’s interesting electric stuff sits the VW ID R, a 671bhp EV ‘Racer’ designed to take on Pikes Peak in 2018. Which it did, and walked away with a new Pikes Peak record.

VW followed that up by taking the Goodwood Hillclimb record for an EV just a month later, and in January it declared its plan to take on the mighty Nurburgring to prove an EV could conquer the Green Hell. And it has.

With Romain Dumas behind the wheel of the ID R, it set a time at the Nurburgring of 6:05.336 minutes, a massive 40 seconds quicker than the previous record held by Peter Dumbreck, in the NIO EP9, since 2017.

 Herbert Diess, VW boss, said:

The Nordschleife of the Nürburgring is not only the world’s most demanding race track, it is also the ultimate test for production vehicles. The ID.R has mastered this challenge with great distinction and has completed the fastest emission-free lap of all time. As further proof of its impressive performance capabilities, Volkswagen’s e-mobility can now proudly call itself ‘Nürburgring-approved’. I congratulate the team from Volkswagen Motorsport and driver Romain Dumas on the third record for the ID.R.

Volkswagen ID R Nurburgring EV Record Video