Porsche 911 GT3 Scorches Mustang GTD ‘Ring Lap Record

The Porsche 911 GT3 has scorched the Mustang GTD’s Nürburgring lap time in a humiliating turn of events. After all, the GT3 makes about 300 fewer horses than the mighty GTD and has a manual transmission instead of some fancy eight-speed dual-clutch wizardry. One might even say it was a David versus Goliath moment, only it kind of wasn’t.

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But the situation sure is humorous for Porsche fans. After all, Ford produced a big trailer and drummed up anticipation for the reveal of the Mustang GTD’s run around the Green Hell. When it revealed the sub-seven minute lap time, the Blue Oval was boisterous about the admittedly impressive accomplishment.

Then Porsche quietly ran the new 911 GT3 around the ‘Ring and just smoked the GTD’s lap time, getting around the track in 6:56.294, edging the Ford Mustang GTD by about a second.

Poor Ford.

What’s more, the Porsche broke the old stick shift record for the Nürburgring by about 9.5 seconds.

Always classy, Porsche didn’t call any competitors out in the press release about the record lap time, although it easily could have. Instead, the automaker focused on its accomplishment and what led up to it.

Porsche was excited that the current GT3 was 3.633 seconds faster than the 992.1 GT3 with the PDK transmission. That’s honestly something to be proud of, showing the Germans really are just pushing themselves further, making incremental improvements with each generation of the 911.

The decision to run a GT3 with a six-speed manual was apparently made because it’s a more popular option than the PDK, so Porsche wanted to see how quickly a car thus outfitted would get around the Green Hell. In other words, Porsche wasn’t trying to set a record, it was just curious.

This just goes to show raw horsepower isn’t everything when it comes to vehicle performance. Sometimes the “weaker” car is faster, thanks to other elements in its design.

Image via Porsche