The 815-hp Ford Mustang is the first American-made production car to circle Germany’s famous racetrack in under seven minutes
By Mohd Adeeb Published 11 December 2024
The 2025 Ford Mustang GTD, driven by Dirk Müller, lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6:57.685.
- That time makes the 815-hp Mustang the first American-made production car to lap the ‘Ring in under seven minutes.
- Despite the accomplishment, Ford believes the GTD is capable of an even faster lap time, so it’s heading back next year.
When it comes to a performance car’s track stardom, the Nürburgring is the ultimate measuring stick.
Naturally, that’s where Ford brought the ultimate Mustang in a bid to fight Europe’s best on their home turf. The result? The 2025 Ford Mustang GTD became the first American-made production car to lap the ‘Ring in under seven minutes, with an official time of 6:57.685.
Greg Goodall, the GTD’s chief program engineer, has been with Ford for 22 years and worked on every Mustang since the fourth generation.
Over the past two years, he and the rest of the small team have worked tirelessly to transform the Mustang GT3 race car into a road-going supercar. Goodall told us recently that the main goal from day one was to take the GTD to the ‘Ring in under seven minutes. Although the team accomplished that mission, the job is far from done.
Back in August, soggy conditions almost spoiled Ford’s attempt at setting a lap worth talking about back home. However, things cleared up in time for factory driver Dirk Müller to take the GTD’s reins and chase glory. It’s all documented in the 14 minutes video titled road to tha ring that Ford has releasedon it’s YouTube channel .
Talking to Car and Driver, Müller said that despite the weather drama on that day, he and the team were able to complete three runs.
He broke the seven-minute barrier on the very first lap, which he said relieved a lot of pressure and made everyone proud. While he made two other laps, 6:57.685 was the fastest of the bunch. Still, Müller knows he’s got more in the tank.
“We knew the track wasn’t there because it was dryish, and it was an extremely hot day,” he said. “Everything was not ideal. So that made us believe we can definitely go faster.”
According to official Nurburgring records, the 815-hp Mustang GTD’s time is currently the fifth-fastest among production sports cars. It falls between the 992.1-generation Porsche 911 GT3 (6:59.93) and the GT3 with Manthey Performance Kit (6:55.737).
Greg Goodall, the GTD’s chief program engineer, has been with Ford for 22 years and worked on every Mustang since the fourth generation. During the past two years, he and the rest of the small team have worked tirelessly to turn the Mustang GT3 race car into a roadgoing supercar.
Goodall recently told us that the main objective from day one was to get the GTD to lap the ‘Ring in under seven minutes. Although the team accomplished that mission, the work is far from done.”I’m not going to speculate about how much faster we can go because, in the end, it doesn’t matter what I say. What matters is what you put on the track,” he said. “We want more. We’re not ready to be done.”