Czinger 21C sets amazing Laguna Seca lap record
You're gonna wanna see this. Over to you, Koenigsegg...
Yes, yes, it’s the Koenigsegg-Czinger battle royale at Laguna Seca again. Most of us will never even see one of these cars, the 21C or Sadair’s Spear, in our lifetimes, let alone be in one. But there’s pride at stake here, clearly, and there’s nothing like a hypercar tête-à-tête to brighten up a dreary December Monday. They don’t seem to have those in California. So get yourself comfy for an outrageous onboard lap.
This duel has been going on for a few years now, for nothing more than bragging rights. But there remains something pretty compelling about watching two of the world’s fastest cars being driven as hard as possible on North America’s most famous racetrack. Most recently, Koenigsegg had claimed the upper hand with its new Sadair’s Spear, which recorded a Racelogic-verified 1:24.16 a few weeks back. Which is flipping fast: a McLaren Senna could only achieve a 1:27.62, for context. It also meant a few precious tenths over the Czinger.
But apparently this only “energised” the Czinger team, according to founder Lukas Czinger, so back to the track they went. With ideal weather (see the video; the pics are from a previous attempt), the 21C has put clear air between itself and the Sadair’s Spear with a stunning 1:22.30 lap. Both cars have used the Michelin Cup 2R tyres, so it’s a level playing field there, and Racelogic has verified both times.
The lap makes for a stunning watch, as these multi-million-dollar hypercars so often do. The speed is unrelenting onboard the Czinger; apparently making maximum use of the 21C’s electric help contributed significantly to the lap time improvements, and the way it romps to 160mph before braking for the first hairpin really is spectacular. It’s eerily composed as well, totally unaffected by huge stops and the track’s unique topography. The car looks to be barely breaking sweat, as driver Joel Miller gives it everything he has.
In a Road & Track interview, Czinger said: "This record demonstrates that the next generation design and manufacturing technology behind the 21C leads to significant performance gains. This team is relentless in their pursuit of excellence, and I am proud of the tremendous result they achieved."
We look forward to seeing what Koenigsegg - or anybody else, for that matter - comes up with in 2026…
For pure road racing tracks like Laguna Seca, I think that Watkins Glenn and Road America are more famous. Circuit of The Americas is the newest and is quite nice - other than it is in Texas.
As an aside, the quickest IndyCar lap at Laguna Seca was in 2023 by Christian Lundgaard at 1:06.461.
although with such ground suck effect, its not very friendly on some street circuits I guess, having seen that some F1 cars even sucked the manhole covers off, then perhaps a Spierling will do it even more?
Another one to know is Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The 4.1 mile "Grand Course" configuration with 24 corners is kinda-sorta a 1/3 version of the Nurburgring.
Car and Driver has been running an annual lapping session called the Lightning Lap (LL) at VIR since 2006, and they've built up an interesting database of results over the years.
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a23319884/li...
Their current LL record holder is the McLaren Senna, set back in 2019 (an unusually long time to hold the LL record).
They should be publishing new LL results in April 2026.
What a challenging front end...
Wicked machine.
Isn't this thing the friendly face of a company that make frankly stunning chassis and suspension componentry for machines of fun, performance and emotion on the weekends and then componentry for machines of death and destruction during the week?
Sure I heard Matt Farah mention it on his podcast....
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