New Honda Civic Type R Prototype Sets Suzuka Lap Record

Honda continues to trickle out information about the eleventh-generation Civic Type R, releasing yet more photos and video of the hot hatch lapping Suzuka Circuit in Japan. But the important news is that the camouflaged prototype set a new lap record around the track for a front-wheel-drive car, besting the previous-gen Civic Type R Limited Edition by almost one second.

The record was set on Suzuka’s 3.6-mile-long figure-8 configuration, which is the full version of the track. The new Type R lapped the course in 2 minutes and 23.120 seconds, just 0.873 seconds quicker than the old car. But the Type R that previously set the record was the lighter, more track-focused Limited Edition, while the new car is a prototype of the standard production car.

Honda’s video of the record-setting lap is pretty cool, as telemetry data like speed and g-forces is shown on-screen along with the map of the track. It also gives us our best idea yet at how the new Type R will sound, and thankfully it’s more exciting than the previous car — the boring soundtrack was one of our only major complaints with the old Type R.

Sadly we don’t know anything more about the car itself. The new Type R should share its engine with the old model, meaning a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 putting out over 300 horsepower mated to a six-speed manual transmission. Honda says the 2023 Civic Type R will be fully unveiled this summer.