Ford Passes Porsche At The Nürburgring—Again
Ford has returned to the Nürburgring Nordschleife with its 815-horsepower Mustang GTD, setting another new lap record for American cars, and returning fire on Porsche.
Key Points
- Record-Breaking Performance: Ford's Mustang GTD has set a new Nürburgring lap record for American production cars, achieving a time of 6 minutes, 52.072 seconds, surpassing its previous time by five seconds.
- Improvements for Speed: The faster lap was made possible by updates to the powertrain, chassis rigidity, ABS/traction control, and aerodynamics, demonstrating significant performance enhancements.
- Advanced Tech: The Mustang GTD features race-inspired technology, including a rear-mounted dual-clutch transmission and semi-active suspension, highlighting Ford's engineering prowess and pushing the Mustang to new performance heights.
The latest time of 6 minutes, 52.072 seconds knocks five seconds off last year’s lap, affirming the Mustang GTD as the quickest American production car to ever lap the legendary track.
After setting a 6-minute, 57-second lap with the GTD last year, Ford's engineering team worked on several key upgrades to shave off the seconds. Ford says the improvements include a new powertrain calibration, additional chassis torsional rigidity, fine-tuned ABS and traction control systems, and undisclosed aerodynamic enhancements.
With the new time, the Mustang GTD now surpasses the Porsche 918 Spyder—previous holder of the overall production car record—and repasses the 2025 Porsche 911 GT3 equipped with a manual transmission, which just laid down a 6:56.294 a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the GTD is still an eternity behind the 6:38.835 Porsche set back in 2021 with the 911 GT2 RS Manthey Edition.
In case you forgot, the Mustang GTD is far from your average Mustang. It uses a rear-mounted eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle connected to the engine through a carbon fiber torque tube. The semi-active suspension, developed by Multimatic, features spool-valve dampers, pushrod, and rocker arm architecture—technology riffed from the Mustang GT3 race car.
Ford has released several images from the day but has yet to publish a new onboard video.
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An experienced automotive storyteller and accomplished photographer known for engaging and insightful content. Michael also brings a wealth of technical knowledge—he was part of the Ford GT program at Multimatic, oversaw a fleet of Audi TCR race cars, ziptied Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars back together, been over the wall during the Rolex 24, and worked in the intense world of IndyCar.
More by Michael Accardi
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