BMW M2 CS lap time at Virginia International Raceway Grand West Course (post 01/2014)

Further fuel to my Nürburgring argument

Old RS3 did 2:52.5 on trofeo R so less than 4 seconds, Cup 2 Rs are literally a cheat code.
And old one is slower than the new one. With the same tires it would be pretty close, which doesn't make the M2 CS with 130 more hp look good. All that power and price only to be marginally faster than the regular RS3, if at all.

Trofeo R-tires are definitely not that much slower than Cup 2 Rs. I'd be suprised if the difference was more than one second.

Also VIR is a track with a lot of slow sections where the BMW had issues with a very loose rear end. On the Nürburgring this is much less of an issue and if you compare the Ring-laps you'll notice how much more stable the M2 CS seemed compared to the RS3 (which probably had a setup that was far away from what came off the production line).

VIR is a fairly long, technical track, so I wouldn't be so sure. It would have to be tested, but we'll probably never know.

The difference between a Mercedes GT63 S on Michelin PS5S and a GT63 Pro on Cup 2 R is 3.4 seconds. And there's not only a tire difference between these cars but also actual car differences (including more hp). Obviously not a comparison that really helps us with the difference of Trofeo R vs. Cup 2 R but it shows that even a Cup 2 R can only do so much.

Even more extreme was the example of the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. It did a 2:49.4 on Michelin PS4S and a 2:47.9 on Cup 2 R. So just 1.5 seconds difference between a UHP-street tire and a radical semi-slick.

Same driver?

The difference between the old RS3, which is slower than the new one on semi-slicks, and the P Zero Rs on the new one is over 6 seconds. So, the better tires do help a bit.

m2 CS have a lot more than 130 hp than RS3. On paper yes, in reality its ~410 hp vs 550-560 hp car with 285/30/20 cup 2 r tires monster.

Really m2 cs not look that good when you take it logically.

That's always tricky to find out for Lightning Lap-times. But in general they have multiple drivers and do many laps and then take the best one. So it's a good yard stick.

I think it also hugely depends on the car. The RS3 is not the most dynamic car out of the factory and has quite a few shortcomings and therefore hugely benefits from the added mechanical grip of better tires. The lap time-differences always seem the biggest when some relatively slow cars get semi-slicks. It might also have to do with the fact that potent cars already get much better versions of a certain tire. There's bazillions of different Michelin PS4Ss around for example.