Cadillac has always been proud of the fact that their CTS has been developed at the Nurburgring Nordschleife race track in Germany, where all the European car makers hone their sports saloons. So they went back to the venue with the latest iteration of the CTS and recorded a lap time of 8:14.10.

That might seem meaningless to someone who is not familiar with the peculiarity of the Nurburgring and the effect it can have on a car’s success or failure in the market. But suffice it to say that the time set by the 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport is almost six seconds faster than the first generation CTS-V. And that car had a large V8, while the Vsport comes with a V6.

And what an engine it is. With a displacement of only 3.6 liter, and boosted by a twin-turbo system, this engine delivers 420 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque, which is what you expect from a V8 engine. What’s more, the turbos also make the engine more efficient than normal V6 units.

Boasting an 8-speed gearbox and rear-wheel-drive, the 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport attacked the Nurburgring the same way U.S. bombers attacked Berlin back in the day: ruthlessly. It devoured the 12.9 miles (20.8 km) and 154 turns of the track and banged in an 8:14 lap time.  Besides the brilliant powertrain, what helped the Vsport in this effort was a poised and precise chassis developed on the very same ground.

The 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport model starts at $59,995, including $925 destination.