The new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is now the fastest American car around the famed Nurburgring race track.
Mustang GTD fans have been reeling since Chevy announced its top models both toppled Ford’s 7-minute-52-second lap time around the 12.9-mile “green hell” by between two and three seconds.
Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO and arguably the biggest Mustang fan on earth, was also reeling, though he did display some good sportsmanship.
Ford is Paying Attention
“Congrats to the Corvette team,” Farley commented from his personal account on Instagram. “Game on!”
The game? Surely it’s to see who can go even faster around the historic race track where manufacturers the world over strive to prove their mettle.
To be fair, Chevrolet is egging its competition on.
“Corvette fans—we got ’em,” the company’s Corvette-dedicated Instagram page posted.
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The ZR1, with 1,049 horsepower, set a time of 6 minutes and 50.76 seconds while the hybrid ZR1X, with 1,250 horsepower, set a time of 6 minutes and 49.27 seconds. Both beat the 800 horsepower GTD’s time of 6 minutes and 52.07 seconds.
Some have argued the Corvette’s times aren’t that impressive compared to the Mustang’s, with all its extra power and several hundred pounds less weight being dragged around.
Why Didn’t the ‘Vette Go Faster?
But General Motors argued the Corvette times are impressive, all things considered.
Ford set its lap time by putting 2004 winner of the 24 hours of Nurburgring Dirk Müller behind the wheel of its car, first to set a time of of 6 minutes and 57.69 seconds in 2020, then again in 2025 to set its 6 minutes and 52 seconds time.
Müller has quite an extensive list of professional racing accolades, including another win at the Nurburgring in the 1996 Formula 3 championship.
The Corvette drivers? They’re all engineers in their day jobs.
#33 CORVETTE RACING Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE Am racecar driven by Ben Keating (USA), Nicolas Varrone (ARG), Nicky Catsburg (NLD) during the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – FIA WEC race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on April 29, 2023 in Spa, Belgium.
Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images
“These Corvettes weren’t piloted by pro racecar drivers,” Ken Morris, senior vice president of product programs, safety, integration and motorsports, said. “They were driven by the same engineers who designed, engineered and tuned them. Brian, Aaron and Drew have grown into world-class drivers and even better engineers.”
They’re not just engineers though. They all have much more experience driving fast cars around difficult race tracks than most.
Drew Cattell, who piloted the ZR1X, has 600 laps around the Nurburgring under his belt, according to GM. Brian Wallace, who piloted the ZR1, has 425 laps under his belt. Aaron Link, who piloted the Z06, has 800 laps under his belt.
It’s not clear exactly how many times Müller has gone ’round the ‘ring, but in 2004 when he won the most prestigious event at the track, his team of four drivers did 143 laps alone, in one day, according to the speedfreaks.org Motorsport Almanac.
What’s Next?
Ford has put in a lot of effort to set the GTD’s time, and Chevrolet has also put in a lot of time to build a fast car.
The big linger questions are: Will the Corvette return with an even better driver? How will Ford try to keep up? Will the Dodge Viper, which set a time in 2017 of 7 minutes and 1 second, come back to make this a three-way battle?
Related: Corvette ZR1 Could Still Beat Mustang GTD at Nurburgring, But Boss Says Don’t Expect More Than That
