How Fast Is The Ford Mustang GTD Around The Nürburgring? We’ll Know Soon

By Gary Gastelu |

Oct 16, 2024

The American sports car wars have moved to Germany.

A day after Chevrolet revealed the 2025 Corvette ZR1 had reached a top speed of 233 mph on a high speed oval test track in Papenburg, making it the fastest production car ever built by a major American brand, Ford is teasing the upcoming release of an equally significant achievement completed in the country.

Ford posted a video to social media on Wednesday that previews an upcoming trailer that’s releasing on Oct. 23 for a short film about its attempt to lap the 13-mile-long Nürburgring Nordschlefe race track in less than seven minutes with the 2025 Mustang GTD. If successful, it would be the first car from a major American automaker to achieve the feat. The Dodge Viper ACR currently holds the fastest lap time at 7:01.3, which was clocked in 2017.

The GTD has been spotted testing and being filmed at the circuit several times this year and it was recently reported by track observers that a record attempt had to be aborted due to poor weather, so it is unknown if Ford has an official time in the books yet. However, it is unlikely that it would be going ahead with this promotion if it wasn’t at least confident that it will be able to pull it off soon enough.

HEAR IT! SEE IT! THE FORD MUSTANG GTD HITS THE NÜRBURGRING WITH SCREAMING MOTOR, DRS DEPLOYED

Ford didn’t say when the result will be released, but with the SEMA Show coming up in Las Vegas in early November and Los Angeles Auto Show following it at the end of the month, timing it to one of them seems likely. But the record might not stand for long.

Chevrolet has also tested the ZR1 at the Nürburgring and with 1,064 hp to the GTD’s 815 hp, it could have an edge. The ZR1 is a mid-engine car with an aerodynamic kit that can generate up to 1,200 pounds of downforce at high speeds. The front-engine GTD’s ace in the hole is a drag reduction system that can be activated by the driver, but its top speed is still just 202 mph with it engaged. While the Nürburgring is a mostly winding circuit where handling is key, it has a few long sections that straighten out, including one that is 1.7-miles long where the ZR1 can really stretch its legs.

It could all be moot next year, because Chevrolet is already working on the next Corvette. It is rumored to be an all-wheel-drive hybrid evolution of the ZR1 called the Zora that could come packing more than 1,200 hp and has already been around the Nürburgring a few times during its development.

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As for the all-time production car record around the track, that was set in September by the $2.75 million Mercedes-AMG One, which is a 1,063 hp hybrid that did it in six minutes, 29 seconds.