Mustang GTD Roars Into Europe for Its Audacious Debut at Goodwood

• Ford is debuting its 800-hp Mustang GTD at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK next month.
• The automaker is targeting a seven-minute run at the venerated Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit this year.
• This $325,000+ muscle car will be available in Europe later this summer after a strong showing for applications in North America.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed will include a strong dose of American muscle with the European debut of the Ford Mustang GTD, the mightiest street-legal Mustang ever built. Inspired by the Mustang GT3 race car, the GTD is powered by an 800-hp supercharged 5.2-liter V8 engine, and it's ready to take on its competitors from across the pond.

A Ford spokesperson told Edmunds that Proton Competition will race three Mustang GT3 race cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Mustang GTD will make an appearance at Goodwood. Later, the GTD will individually take on the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

“We’ve tested the Mustang GTD in North America extensively, including laps at Sebring International Raceway and Virginia International Raceway. This has all been in service of engineering a car that can lap the Nürburgring in under seven minutes,” Mustang GTD Chief Program Engineer Greg Goodall said in a release. “Moving onto European roads and dedicated test sessions at the Nürburgring is the next step, ahead of a timed run later this year.”

That seven-minute benchmark is significant. Only a dozen or so vehicles have broken that threshold, including a Ferrari 296 GTB that ran the Nürburgring just under the wire at 6 minutes and 58.7 seconds in June of last year. It’s a pretty big deal if Ford can prove the Mustang GTD can hang with the likes of legendary sports cars like the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Mercedes-AMG GT.

Along with the pageantry of the vehicle’s European debut, Ford is launching what it calls an “online storytelling series.” Using computer-generated renderings, the brand is giving Mustang fans a closer look at the inner workings of the engineering of this beast.

The official North American application period opened April 17 and ended yesterday, with more than 7,500 people stating their intent to purchase a 2025 or 2026 Mustang GTD.  Ford says more information on the European application process will be available in June.

Edmunds says

Watch out, European performance automakers; Ford is coming for you with the Mustang GTD.