New Mustang GTD Competition Circles The ’Ring In Record Time

In December of 2024, Ford fired the first salvo as the Mustang GTD became the first (North) American vehicle to gallop around the Green Hell in under 7 minutes. The supercar quickly hastened its pace to a 6:52.072 lap with Dirk Müller at the controls. This ignited a battle with Brand X that saw the Corvette ZR1X one-upping that run with a 6:49.275-minute burst and the Ford GT Mk IV coming off the top rope to put both in the dust with a sizzling 6:15.977-minute run.

That said, the Mustang GTD wasn’t about to let its supercar cousin take care of its light work. Instead, the Ford Racing engineers — including Peter Kuechler, Sam Ashtiani, and Steve Thompson — took Jim Farley’s “Game On” declaration to heart and continued development on the GTD to hone its performance and hasten its lap time around the storied, 12.9-mile Green Hell.

“When we said, ‘Game On,’ we meant it,” said Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company. “Mustang GTD was always meant to bridge the worlds between GT3 race cars and street-legal supercars, and the GTD Competition takes this to the next level to continue keeping Europe’s elite up at night.”

Announced on the Mustang’s 62nd birthday, the result was a new iteration of the Mustang supercar, dubbed the Mustang GTD Competition, and Müller piloting it to a blistering new lap record of 6:40.835 minutes around the ’Ring.

Better, Stronger, Faster

To deliver that performance, the Ford Racing engineers increased the output of the GTD Competition’s supercharged 5.2-liter engine to an undisclosed level with yet to be announced upgrades (one of which is likely the twin-screw blower spied a few months ago on the development vehicle).

“The Nürburgring proves that our motorsport lessons don’t stay on the track — they are engineered directly into our road cars,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Racing. “Our racing engineers compete to make Ford vehicles better. For us, every ground is our proving ground.”

More than just a horsepower upgrade, the Mustang GTD Competition option benefits from a modified rear wing, secondary front dive planes, and rear carbon fiber aero discs that work to amplify the efforts of the extant Drag Reduction System to deliver more downforce without aerodynamic balance or efficiency penalties. Fresh high-performance tires complement the new aero with improved grip, and new magnesium wheels, new carbon bucket seats, a lighter damper system, and other tweaks teamed up to put the Competition model on a diet.

“The Mustang GTD Competition is more than a world-class supercar. It is the embodiment of our team using all of its experience to get every detail just right,” said Farley. “They are as good as it gets, and the 6:40.8 time proves it to the world.”

If you have the desire to drive one of these supercars, including the limited special edition, serialized Competition version, and the net worth required to own one, you can submit a Mustang GTD application right here and celebrate the pony car’s big day in style.