Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 Sets Nürburgring Record

The most powerful GTI ever is now also the quickest road-legal VW around the Green Hell.

Volkswagen has a new, very specific record to celebrate. Ahead of revealing the 2026 GTI Edition 50 to the world on June 20, the German automaker took a "near-production test vehicle" to the Nürburgring Nordschleife to set a lap record. With Benny Leuchter behind the wheel, the front-drive hot hatch laid down a blistering 07:46:13, making it the quickest road-legal VW to ever lap the famous circuit.

Let's get the numerous asterisks out of the way, then. Until the Edition 50 is available to order, the lap time will exist on the Ring's "Pre-Series Model" timing board. That's fine: the eventual production model will offer the same available Performance Package found on the record setter, which includes chassis tweaks, unique Bridgestone Potenza semi-slick tires, and forged 19-inch alloy wheels. The record time eclipses the 07:47.31 Leuchter set in the Golf R 20 Years in 2022: proof that more driven axles doesn't necessarily mean quicker at the Green Hell. The on-board video shows that the team had to deal with sub-optimal weather, too.

While the GTI Edition 50 is the quickest road-going VW in all the land, it comes up slightly shy on the quickest front-driver record. That title goes to the current Civic Type R, which has a 07:44.881 lap to its name. That lap too has qualifiers: it was done with non-factory rubber. In both cases, these lap times take in the whole, 20,832-meter (12.94-mile) loop: often times laps are recorded from the end to the beginning of the short, 200-meter (656-foot) straight by the T13 grandstands.

The Edition 50 is also some way shy of the quickest vehicle with a VW badge. That'd be the purpose-built ID.R, the Pikes Peak racer that, with a 06:05.336 lap, also holds the EV crown.

And what is the GTI Edition 50? Beyond the contents of the Performance Package and the claim of being the most powerful production GTI ever, VW hasn't shared much. That's what the reveal, at this weekend's Nürburgring 24 Hour race, will address. The GTI just saw a refresh this year, bumping power to 241 horsepower on our side of the pond and 261 hp in the Old World (and ditching the manual). For reference, the Euro-market GTI Clubsport produces 296 hp.

We'll learn more about the GTI Edition 50 on June 20.

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