Ford CEO Jim Farley Tells Chevy ‘Game On’ After Corvette Breaks The Mustang’s Nürburgring Record
Them’s fighting words!
Ford CEO Jim Farley was complementary to his rivals at Chevrolet following the news that the both the Corvette ZR1 and Corvette ZR1X had broken the Mustang GTD’s Nürburgring lap time record for production cars from American brands, but he also threw down the gauntlet.
“Congrats to the @Corvette Team. Game on!” Farley commented on Chevy’s Instagram post about the achievement on the 12.9-mile track.
The 815 hp Mustang GTD set the record this spring at 6:52.072 while the Corvette ZR1 and ZR1X put down times of 6:50.763 and 6:49.275, respectively, during a session on June 24.
Ford hasn’t announced plans to build a higher performance version of the Mustang GTD, but it’s not out of the question. Its last supercar, the 2017-2022 GT, received several power and performance improvements during its production cycle.
The record lap was also set by Ford Performance sports car racing driver Dirk Müller, who has extensive experience at the Nürburgring and even won the annual 24-hour race held at the track, but at least one person thinks someone could get a faster time out of the Mustang GTD on the track.
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Formula One driver Max Verstappen and automotive personality Chris Harris appeared in a Ford promotional video about the Mustang GTD, and Harris brought up the fact that Verstappen had gone faster than the record for GT3 competition cars at the Nürburgring in a Ferrari during a racing license test session. Based on his performance, Harris suggested that Verstappen could knock five seconds off of Müller’s time. “We can try,” Verstappen responded.
The reason Verstappen was in the video is because Ford is set to become the power unit supplier for Red Bull Racing, starting in the 2026 season, so he is now a member of its stable of drivers. That certainly opens the door for him to give the Nürburgring record a shot in the Mustang GTD.
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However, Chevrolet also has plenty of opportunity to step things up with the Corvettes. Both were driven at the Nürburgring by development engineers, rather than full-time professional racing drivers. That’s not to say they weren’t experienced, as they each had hundreds of laps at the track under their belts, but on a long track where tenths of a second across its more than 150 corners can add up to several seconds, having a true hot shoe behind the wheel can make a significant difference.
Even without giving one of its IMSA or IndyCar drivers a call, the Corvette’s chief engineer, Tony Roma, said his team is already working on a version of the car that’s even crazier than the 1,250 hp all-wheel-drive hybrid Corvette ZR1X
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“So I think we are going to continue to make the car faster for those bragging rights, because our customers appreciate that. It’s the same with any performance car manufacturer – we push each other with Nürburgring lap times for that reason,” he told Top Gear.
It could potentially do it without adding any more power, but by removing something. The Mustang GTD has a drag reduction system (DRS) Müeller was able to use on straight sections to improve acceleration and top speed, while the Corvettes were equipped with fixed high downforce packages. Installing a DRS would allow the Corvette ZR1X to take much more advantage of its power advantage over the Mustang GTD.