It might be positioned lower than its Italian sibling, the Lamborghini Urus, and hasn’t been officially unveiled by Audi yet, but even so, the RS Q8 has just become the fastest production SUV to have ever lapped the Nurburgring.
Ingolstadt’s super-SUV clocked a stunning 7 minutes and 42.253 seconds, thus beating the old record holder, the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S, by just a little over 7 seconds. This also makes it as fast as the Lamborghini Murcielago SuperVeloce and faster than the Nissan GT-R, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and Ferrari 599 GTB.
Comparison: Porsche Cayenne Coupe vs. BMW X6 vs. Mercedes GLE Coupe vs. Audi Q8: Here’s How They Stack Up
German website Nürburgring, which broke the news, has also posted the official timed lap, shot from the cockpit using two cameras. In the video, you can see the SUV going flat out at the track in what is believed to have been nearly perfect weather conditions.
The RS Q8 packs a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, shared with the RS6 Avant, likely pumping out an identical 600 PS (592 HP / 441 kW) and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque. The 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) is estimated at 3.8 seconds, two tenths of a second slower than the super estate, and, according to reports, it should reach a top speed of 305 km/h (190 mph).
