Champion racing driver Jenson Button really put his Swindon-built Honda Civic though its paces.

And the car has set yet another lap record - this time at the world-famous Hungaroring in Hungary - where Jenson won his first Grand Prix in 2006. The new record for a lap in a front-wheel drive production vehicle is a distinctly rapid 2min 10.19sec.

Jenson said: “We came here to the Hungaroring, to set a new front-wheel drive production lap record in the new Type R, and I’m very happy that we did it!”

He added: “The first thing I noticed when I left the pit lane was how neutral the car was. I come from a background that is not front-wheel drive focused, so it was very different for me but because the Type R is so well balanced it was instantly really enjoyable and more natural.

“The thing that surprised me most is how late you can brake with this car."The manual gearbox works really well, too. Most cars these days don’t come with manual boxes, so it’s nice to have that manual feel. You always feel a lot more connected to the car.”

Honda set the original benchmark time for Hungaroring during a similar challenge in 2016, using the previous generation Civic Type R.

This new record is the fifth front-wheel drive lap record set by Honda in The Type R Challenge 2018, achieving the objective set out by the challenge.

WTCR driver Tiago Monteiro set a lap record of 2mins 01.84secs at Estoril circuit in Portugal, BTCC legend Matt Neal set a lap record of 2mins 31.32secs at Silverstone,

Japense Super GT star, Betrand Baguette, set a record of 2mins 53.72secs at SpaFrancorchamps in Belgium and TCR driver, Esteban Guerrieri set a new 2mins 1.51secs lap at the MagnyCours GP circuit in France.