The most obvious contender for SEAT's new lap record is Honda. In September 2012, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito announced the second coming of the Civic Type-R which was subsequently unveiled in Geneva last week – the same day the SEAT Cupra's new 'ring record was announced.
It must have been a mixed day for him, as 18 months previously, he had specifically targeted the Nurburgring lap record in his announcement speech with the words: “With the application of technologies which will be cultivated through participation in WTCC (World Touring Car Championship) starting this year, the all-new Civic Type-R is being developed with the goal of becoming the fastest front-wheel drive vehicle on the Nurburgring race course."
Since then the car has been seen testing on Nurburgring, and has spent a lot of time in the workshops of Honda's "go to" performance tuners, Mugen, getting every last horsepower from the vehicle.
On the day of Honda's Civic Type R announcement, no doubt aware that SEAT had carved a further ten seconds off Renault's lap record, the new Honda's weight remained undisclosed, while the output of the Type R's turbocharged 16 valve VTEC two liter engine was only mentioned as "more than 280 PS", presumably meaning Honda was intending to find a way to extract even more performance than the originally targeted 280 PS (206 kW) before the car hits showrooms 12 months from now.
SEAT set the Nurburgring lap record several weeks before the Geneva Motor Show and did not do the traditional immediate announcement, though videos circulated on YouTube showing the record had been set, and a number of automotive journalists ran articles wondering if the videos were accurate or internet hoaxes. SEAT obviously wanted to make the announcement in the presence of the world's automotive media, and hence the official announcement was delayed until the Geneva Show.