Volkswagen I.D. R preps for Nurburgring record

Volkswagen has completed its first testing at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with its Volkswagen I.D. R racer ahead of an official attempt to break the lap record for an electric car.

As part of the extensive testing, Romain Dumas once again took the wheel to hone the battery-powered Volkswagen I.D. R on the tortuous 20.8km-long track.

Already a four-time Nurburgring N24 winner, Dumas used his experience to adapt the Volkswagen I.D. R with a team of engineers to modify and evolve the former Pikes Peak winner to the bumpy, uneven surface of the former F1 track.

To steal the lap record for a pure-electric car, the Volkswagen I.D. R racer must beat the 6 minutes and 45.90 seconds set by the NIO EP9 two years ago.

Featuring completely re-thought aerodynamics that now includes an F1-inspired rear wing that incorporates a nifty drag reduction system (DRS), the I.D. R can balance downforce for the tight and twisting corners with reducing drag by as much as 20 per cent on the long straight.

Engineers have also made changes to managing the electrical current deployed by the twin-lithium-ion battery packs that can deploy more energy for even quicker acceleration.

Originally, it was thought Volkswagen might be aiming to be developing the I.D. R to conquer the outright lap time set by the Porsche 919 Evo hybrid last year, when the highly modified Le Mans winner set an incredible 5 min 19.54sec.

The overweight VW I.D. R also weighs in at around 1100kW compared to the featherweight 849kg Porsche.

That ambitious target might now be out of reach as Volkswagen admitted it is aiming for an average speed around the Nurburgring of 180km/h, with the I.D. R topping out at 270km/h on the straights.

For an outright record, it's thought Dumas must lodge an average speed higher than 238km/h.

That said, the I.D. R remains exceedingly rapid.

Producing a total of 500kW and 650Nm of torque, the all-wheel drive pure-electric racer can still hit 100km/h in just 2.25 seconds.

It's not yet known when Volkswagen plans to return to the 'Ring, but it's thought the record attempt will take place during the European summer.