THE FIRST AMERICAN CAR TO LAP THE 'RING IN LESS THAN 7-SECONDS IS THE 2025 FORD MUSTANG GTD
Germany's Nürburgring Nordschleife, often referred to as the Green Hell, is where legends are made - and the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD just cemented its place among the elite, which are mostly German. In a historic moment for American performance cars, the Mustang GTD blazed through the 12.9-mile, 73-turn circuit in a stupendously fast time of 6:57.685, becoming the first car from an American brand to break the seven-minute barrier. This feat places the GTD as the 5th-fastest production sports car on the Nürburgring's official leaderboard and only the 6th production car ever to achieve a time under that elusive 7-second benchmark. The Mustang GTD’s Nürburgring triumph is no accident. Developed by a small team of engineers over two years, this 815 hp (608 kW) powerhouse is the ultimate fusion of the Mustang GT3 race car’s DNA and the best of the company’s road car tech. Unlike the GT3 race car, the GTD isn’t shackled by racing rules and regulations, allowing Ford’s team to unleash every ounce of the new car’s potential. The Nürburgring lap car was in the same spec as the version some lucky owners will drive off the showroom floor soon, but it did feature necessary safety upgrades required to attempt a run like this at the Nurburgring, and so this one features an FIA-spec race seat, a 5-point harness and a roll cage. Key to the GTD's lap time is a host of race-bred innovations like the new carbon-ceramic brakes for fade-free stopping power, great-looking active aero, a new semi-active suspension system for precision handling and carbon fibre bodywork that combines light weight with strength and rigidity. Oh, and a decent driver helps.
Ford captured the blood, sweat, and adrenaline of developing the Mustang GTD in a 13-minute documentary titled "The Road to the Ring". From the brutal heat of Sebring to the unforgiving Nürburgring, the film chronicles the relentless push to make history. Featuring insights from Ford CEO Jim Farley, Multimatic Motorsports driver Dirk Müller, and the engineering brains behind the project, the documentary is now streaming on Ford.com, YouTube, and Facebook. We’ll most certainly be taking the time to watch it - it’s going to be interesting no matter which car brand has your allegiance. One of the coolest things about setting this new record it that it was promised at the initial reveal of the Mustang GTD. The sub-7-minute Nurburgring lap time delivers on the goal laid out by CEO Jim Farley in August 2023. “The team behind Mustang GTD took what we’ve learned from decades on the track and engineered a Mustang that can compete with the world’s best supercars. We’re proud to be the first American automaker with a car that can lap the Nürburgring in under seven minutes, but we aren’t satisfied. We know there’s much more time to find with Mustang GTD. We’ll be back.” The list of the fastest American cars at the ‘Ring includes a bunch of Camaros, a few Corvettes and a Mustang, but the fastest for a very long time was the Dodge Viper ACR MkV powered by a normally-aspirated 8.4 litre V10, and it managed a time of 7 minutes and 1-second. That must have been one handful of a drive by someone with massive brass bits.
Take a look at the YouTube video that shows the best-looking and fastest Mustang to date become the first US car to lap the Green Hell in under 7 seconds - a documentary on this effort will follow soon: Ford MustangⓇ GTD: Road to the Ring | Ford Motor Company
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