From the March/April 2026 issue of Car and Driver.
Lap Time: 3:03.7
Class: LL2 | Base: $52,120 | As Tested: $52,416
Power and Weight: 328 hp • 3369 lb • 10.3 lb/hp
Tires: Hankook Ventus S1 evo3
235/35R-19 91Y +
Life is all about give and take. Volkswagen gave the Golf R another 13 horses for 2025, so we took the R to VIR and chopped 0.6 second off the model’s previous best time.
Let’s examine the data. Despite two different drivers, when we overlay a fast lap from a 2022 Golf R in Lightning Lap 15 onto this year’s the similarities are staggering, except for one critical moment. The improvement doesn’t reveal itself until the series of fast downhill corners—the Roller Coaster and Hog Pen sequences—that come before the Front Straight. It’s there that the updated Golf R carves out 0.6 second during a lap that’s otherwise identical to the 2022 car’s.
Thirteen horses are nice, but more confidence in the brakes than in the GTI allowed us to brake later and carry more speed into the first downhill right, Roller Coaster. From there, the R’s stability and all-wheel-drive traction took over. Trust grew, and as confidence grows, lap times tend to fall until you find a tire wall.
In low-speed corners, the Golf R’s all-wheel-drive system is indispensable, as it lets you mash the throttle without any time-robbing drama. But the car still demands discipline. Overcommit in the braking zones, and the R will leave the racing line just like any other car in favor of a path of destruction. Just ask the tire wall at the end of the Back Straight about the R’s love tap.
Like the changes brought by the refresh, a 3:03.7 lap is not shockingly greater. It’s simply better. And at a track this demanding, being a little better, even for just a single sector, pays off in a big way.
Back to Lightning Lap 2026
Austin Irwin has worked for Car and Driver for over 10 years in various roles. He’s steadily worked his way from an entry-level data entry position into driving vehicles for photography and video, and is now reviewing and testing cars. What will he do next? Who knows, but he better be fast.