Lotus Emeya 900 Shocks Sepang: Production EV Crushes Modified Tesla by Over 7 Seconds

Sepang International Circuit doesn’t mess around. Since opening in 1999, Hermann Tilke’s first ground-up Formula 1 track has punished cars with its flowing corners, long straights, brutal tropical heat, and coarse asphalt that eats tires alive. It’s the kind of place that reveals exactly what a machine is made of.

317.

That time came during a time attack organized by Lotus and Malaysian distributor Karrus Automotive Group. Driver Daniel Lu, a GT World Challenge Asia pro with Absolute Racing, took the wheel of a left-hand drive production unit shipped straight from China, no race prep, no modifications.

770, which would have already broken the record. After a tire and brake refresh, the Emeya shaved another two seconds off. 790. That Tesla had been stripped of rear seats, fitted with fiberglass doors, upgraded brakes, coilover suspension, race tires, and a harness. The Emeya beat it by more than seven seconds wearing nothing but factory parts.

932 in 2025.

The hardware behind the time is serious. Two electric motors produce 905 horsepower and 985 Nm of torque, with a two-speed gearbox on the rear motor. 78 seconds. A 102 kWh battery runs on an 800V architecture, and 10-piston carbon-ceramic brakes handle the front axle. 8 km/h, kept stable by active aerodynamics and Lotus’s “porosity” design, routing air through the body, a trick borrowed from the Evija hypercar.

Lotus Senior Director Chong Yok Meng called the record validation of the company’s engineering philosophy, saying electrification enhances the Lotus driving experience rather than compromising it. The Emeya 900 is marketed as a daily-usable grand tourer, not a track car. But Sepang suggests that distinction might not matter anymore.