Cyan Racing has just broken two Nürburgring lap records in the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept car, which might leave you thinking, ‘What?!’—but Cyan Racing was formerly Polestar’s motorsport arm, and now looks after all motorsport efforts for Chinese automotive giant Geely.
Driver Thed Björk, 2017 touring car racing World Champion, piloted the 528hp machine around the 13-mile circuit in 7:20.143. The time for the shorter 12.875-mile route as used by most manufacturers was an even quicker 7:15.123. This is three seconds quicker than the recent four-door lap time set by Jaguar in their 5.0-liter supercharged Project 8 and a massive 25 seconds faster than the front-wheel-drive record held by Renault’s Megane RS Trophy-R. But bear in mind that the Cyan is more race car than production car, so the comparisons with the Jaguar and Renault are a little unfair.
To achieve this impressive feat driver Björk said that they had to fine-tune the car in a wide range of driving conditions: “We continued our development of the car in torrential rain and scorching sunshine on the most fearsome circuit in the world. The car is rewarding to drive no matter the conditions, be it the Nürburgring or the autobahn. The record that we achieved here is something I rank on the same level as my racing titles and a highlight in my part of transitioning development from race to road cars.”
The Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept uses a 528hp turbocharged four-cylinder 2.o-liter engine and is capable of 194mph. It comes with Öhlins adjustable dampers, 20-inch Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and massive 6-pot calipers upfront. Henrik Fries, head of automotive R&D at Cyan Racing says that the car is a development platform for upcoming Lynk & Co performance components.
Cyan Racing is no stranger to racing and performance vehicles, having won numerous World Touring car titles and being part of the development of Polestar models from 2013 to 2015. It has also broken records here before, setting a four-door road car record of 7:51.11 on the longer loop in a Volvo S60 Concept car in 2016 as well as holding the record for the fastest front-wheel drive race car with the 2017 Volvo S60 Cyan TC1, but this is the first record set under Chinese owners Geely. With the potential of the Lynk & Co 03 Cyan Concept clearly demonstrated, it will be fascinating to see how the final road-legal variants compare to the established market leaders.
Images courtesy of Cyan Racing
