Currently reading: Volvo S60 Polestar claims 'secret' Nurburgring record

Swedish firm’s performance arm says it set a four-door Nordschleife record in 2016, but didn’t tell anyone at the time…

The Volvo S60 Polestar apparently broke the lap record for a four-door cars at the Nürburgring Nordschleife last year - but the manufacturer didn’t make tell anyone because it happened during a secret test.

Cyan Racing, which runs Volvo’s FIA World Touring Car Championship team, conducted a private test with the all-wheel-drive, 350hp road car at the Nordschleife in May last year. Polestar is the Swedish firm's tuning and competition arm.

Polestar says the test, which immediately followed the WTCC round at the track, was designed to improve the performance of both road and race cars by taking “the performance of the Volvo S60 Polestar road car as far as possible.”

Nurburgring lap records - the definitive rundown

In the build-up to this weekend’s WTCC race at the Nürburgring, Polestar has released a video from the test, in which it claims the S60 Polestar lapped the Nordschleife in 7m 51.11s. When set, that would have been a lap record for a four-door road car.

The mark has since been eclipsed by the five-door Honda Civic Type-R’s time of 7m 43.80s. The four-door Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio has claimed a 7m 32s laps since. The time set by the Volvo Polestar S60 has not been verified independently. There have been calls for a 'road cup' competition to standardise lap record bids.

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Volvo wants Polestar to rival the likes of Mercedes-AMG and BMW M, so does its S60 - not available in the UK - show there is hope for the future?

James Attwood

James Attwood, digital editor
Title: Acting magazine editor

James is Autocar's acting magazine editor. Having served in that role since June 2023, he is in charge of the day-to-day running of the world's oldest car magazine, and regularly interviews some of the biggest names in the industry to secure news and features, such as his world exclusive look into production of Volkswagen currywurst. Really.

Before first joining Autocar in 2017, James spent more than a decade in motorsport journalist, working on Autosport, autosport.com, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, covering everything from club rallying to top-level international events. He also spent 18 months running Move Electric, Haymarket's e-mobility title, where he developed knowledge of the e-bike and e-scooter markets. 

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steve-p 26 May 2017

That's convincing

I ran a 5 second 100 metres last week. I didn't tell anyone because reasons.