Czinger takes back the Laguna Seca lap record from Koenigsegg, who took it over from Czinger last month, who took it over from Koenigsegg last year, who took it over from Czinger earlier last year, who took it over from McLaren in 2021 – Jalopnik

Everyone in America is captivated by “Heated Rivalry,” the rom-dram television series for gay hockey players that was a big hit on HBO Max (via Canada’s Crave channel). But there’s another heated rivalry brewing in the US over the past four years, starring an American and a Swede instead of a Canadian and a Russian. On Monday, California-based hypercar manufacturer Czinger announced it had taken back the Laguna Seca production car lap record from Koenigsegg. That would be newsworthy anyway, but what really makes this story fun is that it’s the fifth time the record has changed hands between these two automakers in the last four years.

It all started on July 21, 2021, when Czinger set a time of 1:25.44 with his 21C hypercar, which had not yet entered series production. Czinger, a relatively unknown company, broke the McLaren Senna record by almost two seconds in October 2019. Fast forward to August 18, 2024, the final day of Monterey Car Week, when Koenigsegg posted a time of 1:24.86 in his Jesko. Having just thrown a party the night before where he broke the 21C record, Czinger clearly wasn’t having that, so he headed back to Laguna Seca on August 26 and set a new time of 1:24.75.

Last summer, Czinger drove a production-spec 21C 1,000 miles around California, setting five production car lap records at five different tracks in five days, one of which beat his own Laguna Seca record. That new time of 1:24.39 was then beaten by Koenigsegg on November 4, 2025 using the Sadair’s Spear, an even faster evolution of the Jesko. Once again Czinger couldn’t let that stand, so it went back to Laguna Seca on December 9 and took back the record.

The best thing about this rivalry is how much fun the two companies and their respective directors and employees have, poking fun and always being enthusiastic and respectful. After the Sadair’s Spear round last month, Lucas made an Instagram post Congratulating Koenigsegg while saying Czinger would return to the track to try to take it back. Founder and CEO Christian von Koenigsegg said: “Good Luck Guys👍 – Healthy competition 😊 If you really want a challenge, go for a low db day like we did😎 Cheers!”

That’s right: when Koenigsegg was at the track in November, it was on a day with noise restrictions, so the car had to be fitted with a special muffler, and it also wore heavier aluminum wheels instead of the normal carbon fiber wheels. So don’t be shocked if Koenigsegg returns to Laguna Seca to beat Czinger again. Hopefully this rivalry will remain alive for a long time.