But it wasn't set at the Nurburgring.
When Porsche announced the Taycan had set a new lap record at the Nurburgring last month, we knew it wouldn't take long for Elon Musk to strike back. Impressively, the Taycan lapped the Ring in just seven minutes and 42 seconds, setting a new lap record for the fastest four-door EV.
After mocking the Taycan Turbo's name, Elon Musk announced the Model S will be unleashed at the Nurburgring this week to try and steal the crown from Porsche. While the Nurburgring lap record attempt hasn't happened yet, Elon Musk has announced the Model S has already set a lap record at another famous racing circuit.
Speaking on Twitter, Musk announced that the Model S has "just set record for fastest 4 door ever at Laguna Seca." Notably, Musk didn't refer to it as an EV record, so the Model S may have set a new outright record for four-door sedans.
That would mean it's beaten the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, which holds the current four-door sedan record at Laguna Seca with a time of one minute and 37.54 seconds. That record was set last September, so it's taken almost exactly a year for Tesla to beat it (if indeed it has set an outright record). Currently, the Tesla Model 3 Performance holds the outright EV lap record at Laguna Seca after setting a time of one minute and 37.5 seconds.
Musk hasn't released any additional details so we don't know how fast the Model S lapped Laguna Seca or who was driving the electric sedan, but more details and a video of the lap will be released tomorrow. It also isn't clear if any modifications were made to the Model S to help it achieve the lap record.
But what about Tesla's Nurburgring record attempt? That's still going to happen, but not this week. Responding to a user on Twitter, Musk confirmed that Tesla needs to "review & tune Model S thoroughly for safety on Nurburgring, especially Flugplatz session" before a lap record attempt can be made.
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