SPY VIDEO: Lexus RC F lapping the ‘Ring

The high-performance Lexus coupe snapped a couple of weeks ago has now also been filmed in action at race pace around the Nurburgring.

Automedia's video footage shows the new car leaving a local service station and making its way at sedate speeds to the famous track, where the driver gives it a bit of curry.

There's little further information available about this car other than that reported previously, but we’ve heard on the grapevine that Lexus is anxious to rush the car to market. The coupe is expected to be in production within 12 months, with the high-performance version filmed here presumably following at a later date.

Expect the high-performance coupe to be badged 'RC F' – to distinguish it from an IS version with the same basic underpinnings but in a four-door body.

The stove-hot coupe may be powered by a forced-induction V6 rather than the IS F's V8. Indeed, there's a chance that Lexus may drop the IS F sedan altogether, although styling details for the new coupe (headlights and other cues) hint that the RC F will be set apart from a new IS sedan.

That would leave room for the IS F as the top-shelf variant in the sedan range, since BMW is adopting exactly that strategy – one name (M4) for the coupe and another (M3) for the sedan.

Estimated to measure 4.7 metres long, 1.845 metres wide and riding on a 2.73-metre wheelbase, the new coupe is aimed directly at the same target demographic as BMW's M4. It's larger than the BMW in length and width, but the M4 will have the edge with its longer wheelbase.

Added overhang at the rear of the Lexus could point to a larger boot, which would be an advantage in North American showrooms.

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