For two months, the Honda Civic Type R toured five European circuits – Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Estoril and Hungaroring – seeking to assert itself as the leader of the compact family.
Inspired by the Honda Civic Type R, which recorded the best time on the Nürburgring for front-wheel drive vehicles – and which was recently beaten by the new Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S – the engineers of the Japanese brand took an example of the sports car to five European circuits. The objective was to reinforce the Honda Civic Type R's position as the leader of the high-performance compact family members – without mechanical modifications, guarantees the brand.
The adventure began last April, at Silverstone, where the Japanese sports car completed the British circuit in 2 minutes and 44 seconds. Not happy with the final time, rider Matt Neal returned three weeks later – already with more favorable weather conditions – and it took just 2 minutes and 31 seconds.
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The journey continued in May, on the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Pilot Rob Huff managed a time of 2 minutes and 56 seconds. The next challenge was the historic Monza circuit, this time with the Hungarian Norbert Michelisz at the wheel. The Japanese sports car took just 2 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the circuit. On our very well-known Estoril circuit, contrary to what was planned, it was Bruno Correia who took the wheel of the Honda Civic Type R, due to Tiago Monteiro's accident in a WTCC race a few days before. However, with just one day of training, Bruno Correia ended up getting a record time of 2 minutes and 4 seconds.The challenge ended on June 6 at the Hungaroring, Hungary, with the home rider – Norbert Michelisz – completing the challenge in the best possible way with a final time of 2 minutes and 10 seconds. “This is proof that our team has developed a true competition sports car for the road”, confessed Philip Ross, vice president of Honda Motor Europe.