The Ford Mustang GTD has become the first US production car to lap the iconic Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than seven minutes, putting it into the realm of Germany’s fastest sports cars – but Ford says it will prove its fastest ever street-legal pony car can go even faster.
With former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Dirk Müller at the wheel, the 600kW GT3 racing-inspired Mustang GTD lapped the 20.8km ‘Green Hell’ in six minutes and 57.685 seconds.
That was enough to put the Mustang GTD into fifth place on the infamous German road circuit’s official leaderboard for production sports cars (excluding hypercars), which is currently headed by the 991-generation Porsche 911 GT2 RS fitted with a Manthey performance kit, which set a time of 6:43.300 seconds in June 2021.
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For the record, the outright production car lap record is held by the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar, or ‘super sports car’, which lapped the ‘Ring in 6:29.090 in September 2024.
The sub-7.0-minute lap also put the Mustang GTD behind supercars like the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series (6:48.047), Porsche 911 GT3 RS (6:49.328) and Porsche 911 GT3 Manthey (6:45.737), but ahead of the 992-generation 911 GT3, which set its 6:59.93 lap time in 2020.
However, Porsche’s ‘entry-level’ track-focused sports car was recently updated, and costs significantly less than the pony-badged machine.
In North America, Ford has said pricing for the Mustang GTD will start from about US$325,000 (A$508,000), while the 911 GT3 opens at less than US$225,000 (A$352,000).
Despite this, Ford CEO Jim Farley is more than pleased with the Mustang GTD and Müller’s achievement, reaching the goal which the executive set for the team ahead of the high-performance model’s public debut 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,” Mr Farley said in a media statement.
“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 [the] Mustang GTD. We’ll be back.”
A behind-the-scenes look the Mustang GTD’s preparation taking on the Nürburgring can now be viewed on Ford’s social media platforms – Facebook, YouTube – in a 13-minute documentary, called The Road to the Ring.
More than 7500 customers have put their name down to buy a Mustang GTD, but not all of them may get the chance to own one, as production will only take place in limited volumes for the 2025 and 2026 model years, and all examples will be exclusively left-hand drive.
This has ruled the GTD out from being road-legal in Australia, and its bespoke features compared to the regular Mustang would make a right-hand drive conversion prohibitively expensive.
Under the bonnet is a 600kW supercharged 5.2-litre V8 engine, which drives the rear wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transaxle.
The double-wishbone front suspension and pushrod rear suspension incorporate Adaptive Spool Valve shock absorbers and coil-over springs, helping keep control of the Mustang GTD in tandem with 20-inch wheels shod in Michelin Cup 2 tyres, and Brembo carbon ceramic brakes.
Mustang GTD with performance pack 
There’s also a significant amount of carbon-fibre in the Mustang GTD’s aerodynamic exterior design, reducing weight in a bid to enhance handling and prove that American muscle cars aren’t just lead-tipped arrows.
Unlike the 911 GT3 – the model used by Porsche to homologate its GT3 race cars – the Mustang GTD is based on the Mustang GT3 racer, which was itself homologated on the Mustang Dark Horse, the flagship of the new S650-generation range in Australia.
Confused? Think of the GTD as a road-going version of the racing version of a road car.
And in case you’re wondering, the name isn’t inspired by the Volkswagen Golf GTD. Instead, it’s a nod to the GT Daytona class in which the Mustang GT3 competes throughout the US IMSA endurance racing series.
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