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VW ID R electric race car finishes its first practice laps at the Nürburgring

The actual record attempt will wait until summer.

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Given how the ID R beat the EP9 at Goodwood, it stands to reason that lightning can strike for a second time at the Nürburgring, as well.

Volkswagen

It's only been a couple of days since unveiled the Nürburgring spec of its ID R electric race car, but this silent monster is already throwing down practice laps around the revered Green Hell.

Volkswagen announced Friday that the ID R, with Romain Dumas at the wheel, has completed its first salvo of practice laps around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Dumas strong-armed two different chassis configurations around the 13-ish-mile track tucked in the German countryside. These laps will help VW hone the ID R's specifications ahead of a proper record attempt this summer. The weather is still not ideal, with a slightly damp track greeting VW's team on Thursday.

"The Nürburgring Nordschleife has presented difficult challenges as expected," said Sven Smeets, VW's motorsport director, in a statement. "Based on the extensive computer simulations in advance, in this test we have worked on ensuring the ID R is optimally adapted to this unique race track, particularly with regard to the chassis. The energy management is already functioning very well."

VW is determined to beat the current lap record for electric vehicles, a blistering 6 minutes, 45.9 seconds, set by Nio's EP9 electric supercar in 2017. Nio very briefly held the record for electric vehicles at the Goodwill Festival of Speed's hillclimb, but the ID R routed it by a full second. With a Pikes Peak overall record under its belt, as well, the ID R seems uniquely positioned to snag up as many records as it can.

The ID R has been kitted out specifically to handle the insane curves and elevation changes on the 'Ring. Its new rear wing drops the overall vehicle height by 8.7 inches, and while it produces 33 percent less drag than it did at Pikes Peak, VW promises it still has twice the downforce of a modern Formula 1 car. Its two electric motors put out 670 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, enough for a 60-mile-per-hour sprint to take just 2.25 seconds. 

The record-breaking Volkswagen I.D. R electric car

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Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.

Article updated on April 26, 2019 at 7:48 AM PDT

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Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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