He meant 1:58 I think.
I couldn't even break 1:50 on this track in a RUF BTR.  The Clio is actually a pretty good car for this track.  Nimble, oversteer on demand, easy to control with the throttle, etc.
I was fooling around with Supras yesterday.  I had two late models, one turbo and one NA.  I modded them both fully and ran them at Tsukuba.  I ran the NA one vs. Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 4.  Even with 900 hp I could only run about 1 sec faster than the 400 hp NA car or the Stage 2 car.  I think with TCS or R tires it would have been different, but it was an interesting experiment.