Lightning Lap 2017: Subaru WRX Performance Package

Lap Time: 3:11.5
Class: LL1
Base Price: $32,205
As-Tested Price: $32,205
Power and Weight: 268 hp • 3336 lb • 12.4 lb/hp
Tires: Dunlop Sport Maxx RT, 245/40R-18 97W

Three years ago, we found ourselves in the dirt, literally, as the WRX’s brake pads expired exiting Hog Pen. Subaru addressed that shortcoming this year by adding high-temperature pads to the WRX with the new Performance package, which helped shave four seconds off the earlier car’s lap time—in a WRX that’s 74 pounds heavier.

Though it doesn’t hold the top spot on Subaru’s performance-car roster, the WRX is an underrated machine. It’s capable, precise, and rewarding to drive on a racetrack, and has come a long way since the days of the first-generation Impreza platform. The strength of those early cars lay primarily in their long-travel suspensions, tall tires, and loose demeanor. They were ideally suited to rough roads. The current WRX, though, is most at home on smooth pavement, such as VIR’s.

The WRX demonstrates such confidence-­inspiring turn-in and transitional responses that it entered Spiral 5.6 mph faster than the Porsche 718 Cayman S and 4.2 mph faster than the BMW M240i. And with a best lap time of 3:11.5, the WRX was more than three seconds ahead of its nearest LL1-class competitor, the Honda Civic Si. It was also virtually unaffected by the water that so profoundly flummoxed the BRZ.

Inverted front struts (on Limited and Premium models) and brake-based torque vectoring on the front axle help turn the WRX into a highly proficient road-course car. And proper brake pads don’t hurt, either. In fact, since it now trails the 2015 WRX STI by only one second around VIR, it might just be the WRX to have.