What Was The Best American Lap Time At The Nurburgring?

To determine the best American lap time at the Nürburgring, we will define it as the best lap by an American-branded vehicle on the 20.832 km-long Nürburgring Nordschleife track, which is the current standard for Nürburgring lap records. The best American lap time at the Nürburgring is currently held by the Ford Mustang GTD, which set a time of 6:52.072 on April 9, 2025, an improvement of more than 5.5 seconds over the its first ring attempt in August 2024.

The Ford Mustang GTD's time of 6:52.072 represents the seventh fastest time for a production car lapping the Nürburgring. Currently ranking ahead of the Mustang GTD in lap times, starting with the number six ranking and moving up to number one, are the Porsche GT2 RS MR 991.2 (6:51.45 in 2017), the Lamborghini Aventador LP 770-4 SVJ (6:49.42 in 2018), the Porsche GT3 RS 992 (6:49.32 in 2022), the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series (6:48.04 in 2020), the Porsche GT2 RS MR 991.2 (6:43.30 in 2021), and the top-ranking Mercedes-AMG One, with a time of 6:29.09 in 2024, leaving a margin of 14 seconds between it and the second-place Porsche.

For reference, there are also the even quicker lap records achieved by non-production cars. These can be prototypes, pure racing cars not intended for road use, or hypercars. The current top-three lap records in this category are held by the first-place Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo with 5:19.54, the second-place Volkswagen ID.R with 6:05.33, and the Lotus Evija X Prototype in third with 6:24.04 minutes.

There have been some other good American lap times at the Nürburgring over the years. We will list American lap times that cover the top 50 production-car lap times, from the next-quickest American time on down.

These include the 21st-place production-car time of 7:01.3 minutes, posted on the 20.6 km track by a Dodge Viper ACR GTS R in September of 2017. This took place on the shorter version of the track and would translate to a time of approximately 7:05.3 minutes on the current 20.832 km standard version of the Nürburgring (add 4 to 4.5 seconds to go from short- to long-track time). Next is the 28th-place 7:15.12 long-track time laid down by the expensive Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z06 in September of 2024, followed in 31st place by the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR with a short-track 7:12.13 time in September of 2011. The next good American lap time at the Nürburgring is the 35th-place Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06's 7:13.90-minute short-track time set in April of 2017, followed closely by the 39th-place Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE doing a short-track 7:16.04 in 2017. Following in 47th place is the Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 with a short-track time of 7:19.63 set in 2012, with 48th place claimed by an American electric vehicle (EV), the Tesla Model S Plaid with the Track Package, which set a long-track time of 7:25.23 in June of 2023. The Tesla currently holds the Nürburgring record for the fastest modified EV.