Ford Will Reveal Mustang GTD’s Nürburgring Lap On December 10

If it does go quicker than 7 minutes flat, it will officially be the fastest American production car to ever lap the infamous 12.9-mile loop. That mark is currently held by the Dodge Viper ACR, which came close, at 7:01:30. On the other side, the Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 Superveloce awaits with a time of 6:59.73. From there, it’s a sea of German and Italian exotics, largely Porsche and Mercedes-AMG battling for ‘Ring supremacy. Claiming an outright record for production cars would require a time quicker than 6:29.09, set earlier this year by the Mercedes-AMG One. The Mustang GTD is good, but not that good.

But what about the record for the fastest front-engined production car? Everything quicker than 7 minutes has the engine in the middle or back, except for the Mercedes-AMG GT. The Black Series went 6:43.61 back in 2020, an astounding achievement that, for a brief spell anyway, was the overall record. Porsche came back in 2021 with a Manthey-tweaked 911 GT2 RS that turned a 6:38.83 time. Only the AMG One is quicker.

At this point, it’s safe to assume the Mustang GTD went faster than 7 minutes. It’s highly unlikely Ford would be doing a teaser campaign if it didn’t reach that milestone. The bigger question is: By how much? With 815 horsepower and a GT3-based chassis, it might actually compete with the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. The ‘Stang has more power and a near 50/50 weight distribution thanks to its rear-mounted gearbox. It has the same 202-mph top speed as the Merc, as well as a bonkers aero kit. And Ford benchmarked the AMG GT (along with the 911 GT2 RS) during GTD development.

Stay tuned. All our questions will be answered on December 10.