The Renault Megane RS Trophy R has set a lap time of 2m 48.3s at Spa-Francorchamps, breaking the Honda Civic Type R’s record for front-wheel drive production cars in the process.

Actually, it didn’t just break the record – it properly smashed it, taking over five seconds from the Civic’s 2018 time of 2m 53.7s.

That time is mainly down to the lack of weight in the Trophy R. Remember, there’s full carbon wheels, Sabelt bucket seats, a carbon bonnet and an Akrapovic titanium exhaust, as well as the fast Megane tradition of deleted rear seats. All in all, that means a 130kg saving over the standard Trophy.

And yes, we know the Civic Type R is roughly half the price if you get a bit tick-happy on the Megane’s options list, but it’s still a remarkable achievement from Renault, especially considering that the Megane is 20bhp down on its Japanese rival. 

It’s not the first FWD title that Renault has knicked off Honda either. Renault Sport test driver and engineer Laurent Hurgon also took the Type R’s Nürburgring record with a time of 7m 40.1s. Blimey.