The Range Rover Sport SVR has become the fastest production SUV around the Nurburgring in Germany with a time of 8min:14secs.

RANGE ROVER IS WELL-KNOWN for its performance off-road, but its new performance flagship, the Range Rover Sport SVR has been designed with speed in mind. And it’s just conquered the infamous Nordschleife circuit at the Nürburgring in Germany, lapping the 20.7km circuit and 70-plus corners in 8min:14secs, making it the fastest production SUV around the Nürburgring.

The record was originally set and held by Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo in 2009 (8min:33secs).

The new Range Rover Sport SVR, which made its debut at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, and goes on sale in Australia in March 2015, was back at the Nürburgring this month to continue testing. It’s powered by a tweaked version of Land Rover’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 which produces 404kW (an increase over the standard supercharged engine) and also does service in the Jaguar XF-R, XK-RS and F-Type R cars. The Range Rover Sport SVR features a twin-speed transfer case to provide a choice of high and low gear ratios and the same 850mm wading depth as other models in the Range Rover Sport line-up.

According to Land Rover, the handling characteristics of the SVR have been honed on the demanding Nürburgring Nordschleife because the undulating circuit’s challenging layout represents the ultimate test for high performance vehicles.

Mike Cross, Chief Engineer Vehicle Integrity, said: “The Nürburgring is a benchmark for vehicle development and testing, and cars become stronger, more durable and faster over its 20.7km and 70-plus corners. We wanted to see whether an SUV could behave like a performance car in this challenging environment. The results are spectacular and the Range Rover Sport SVR has demonstrated outstanding on-road performance capabilities.”