Volkswagen ID. R completes first Nordschleife test

Former Le Mans champion Romain Dumas has put the fully electric Volkswagen ID. R race car through its paces at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit.

The Frenchman, who won the world-famous 24-hour endurance race in 2010 and 2016, drove two alternative ID. R chassis at the 13-mile-long track.

The testing programme comes as part of the German marque’s preparations for an attempt to set a new lap record for electric vehicles at the Nordschleife.

British racer Peter Dumbreck set the circuit’s existing electric car lap record back in 2017, completing a time of 6:45.90 – at an average speed of 115 mph – while behind the wheel of NIO’s 1,360-hp EP9 supercar.

Using the data from Dumas’ first test, the engineers at Volkswagen Motorsport will have the opportunity to fine-tune the ID. R’s setup before the record attempt, which is planned to take place this summer.

Speaking after the test, Dumas – who describes the Nordschleife as his favourite track – praised the ID. R’s impressive cornering speeds, insisting they are “much higher” than those of a regular GT race car.

“I feel good in the cockpit and that is really important here,” he added. “The Nürburgring-Nordschleife has larger and more numerous bumps than the race tracks on which we have tested so far. So, we have concentrated on adapting the shock absorbers and the ride height to suit the unique characteristics of this track.”

Dumas has already used the ID. R to set the fastest ascent of the famous Pikes Peak hill climb track in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

Volkswagen originally hoped to overhaul the record for fastest climb by an electric vehicle, but ended up smashing the overall record – set by Sebastien Loeb, the most successful World Rally Championship driver of all time – by an astonishing 16 seconds.