Ferrari SF90 XX smashes Fiorano lap record

Ferrari’s first ever road-legal XX car, the SF90 XX, is officially the fastest road car to lap the brand’s famous test track, Fiorano.

In the hands of Ferrari’s chief test driver, Raffaele de Simone, the track-focused SF90 XX lapped the 3km circuit in 1m17.039s which smashes the previous benchmark by 1.4 seconds.

That previous marker was set by the ‘regular’ SF90 with Assetto Fiorano package, which highlights the huge performance gain offered by the XX’s stronger focus on aerodynamics.

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The XX version is based on the regular SF90 and shares the same plug-in hybrid powertrain which combines a 4.0-litre V8 with three electric motors and a 7.9kWh battery.

Power is up to 758kW in the XX – a rise of 22kW over the standard car – but its huge fixed rear wing, sealed underbody and redesigned nose mean it produces twice the downforce. At 250km/h the SF90 XX is generating 530kg of downforce, with the rear wing alone accounting for 315kg of that.

Ferrari bolted lightweight carbon-fibre wheels onto the XX for the record attempt – they’re actually made by Aussie company Carbon Revolution — and wrapped them in sticky Michelin Pilot Cup 2 R tyres.

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The same tyres were used on the SF90 when it set the previous benchmark lap time.

For the first time, the XX’s record attempt was independently measured and verified by a “specialist third-party motorsports agency”.

Numbers mean nothing without context, so how does the SF90 XX’s record stack up in the pantheon of Ferrari road cars?

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Well it’s a full 10 seconds quicker than a Ferrari F50, which is the last Ferrari to feature a fixed rear wing like the XX’s.

It’s also 2.0 seconds better than a LaFerrari, 4.0sec quicker than the blistering 296 GTB and around 5.3 seconds ahead of the Enzo.

Check out the video for the full onboard experience of de Simone setting the lap time in SF90 XX. We’d suggest turning your speakers up…