The Mercedes-AMG GT R has officially set a new production car lap record around Mount Panorama prior to the Bathurst 12 Hour over the weekend.

The matte green machine managed to lap Australia’s most famous circuit in just 2:16.5, almost nine seconds faster than the previous record held by a Mercedes-AMG GT S.

To put the GT R’s time into perspective, it is about 15 seconds slower than the outright lap record, currently held by a McLaren 650S GT3 race car. It is also approximately 10 seconds off the pace of a V8 Supercar.

Behind the wheel of the AMG GT R was Mercedes factory driver Bernd Schneider who managed to give local fans their first taste of the fastest ever AMG GT variant. During the lap, he also had to deal with traffic, namely a black Ferrari LaFerrari but overtook it with ease and managed to hit a top speed of 308 km/h along the Conrod Straight.

The AMG GT R’s potency around Mount Panorama isn’t all that surprising particularly after the car lapped the Nurburgring in 7 min 10.92 seconds late last year.

Power for the vehicle comes courtesy of an upgraded twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine delivering 577 hp and 700 Nm (516 lb-ft) of torque. That’s enough to propel the GT R to 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds and towards a 318 km/h (198 mph) limited top speed.

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