Tony Roma, General Motors’ executive chief engineer for Corvette and performance cars, says Chevrolet is not planning a quick return to the Nürburgring after Ford’s Mustang GTD Competition lapped the Nordschleife in 6:40.835. The Corvette ZR1X’s best time was 6:49.275, a gap of more than eight seconds, and the team has other plans. Ford’s own lap landed in the same Pre-Production/Prototype category that Chevrolet used, so the comparison is a like-for-like one, which makes the decision to sit out a rematch more notable.
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Roma said the lap-time fight will not set Chevrolet’s calendar, and Pikes Peak is the next showcase for the ZR1X. His comments sharpen a rivalry that has now passed back and forth between the two American automakers.
Tony Roma on why Chevrolet will not answer yet
Roma spoke on The Drive’s Drivecast, and The Drive’s write-up quotes him saying he does not plan a tit-for-tat run to answer Ford, and that when GM has something worthy and a story worth telling, it will do something. He acknowledged that the stance disappoints a lot of people. He also stressed that the team’s earlier run was an accomplishment, calling it “an accomplishment to be under seven minutes.”
According to Carscoops, he told the show the team wants to do something that makes sense for Chevrolet, and Chevrolet had already chosen Pikes Peak as the next ZR1X showcase before Ford’s latest time was known. Roma said the Colorado hill climb offers an American motorsports setting that goes back almost a century, and the team found photographs of Zora Duntov racing a prototype Corvette there in the 1950s.
The lap times and what separates them
Chevrolet’s numbers came in 2025. Per Carscoops, ZR1X driver Drew Cattell lapped in 6:49.275, the ZR1 with Brian Wallace in 6:50.763, and the Z06 with Aaron Link in 7:11.826, all ahead of the Mustang GTD’s earlier benchmark of 6:52.072. GM Authority notes that all three Corvette laps were set by GM engineers rather than professional racing drivers, and it dates the ZR1X lap to July 2025.
Ford’s response arrived this year. Dirk Müller, a Ford factory driver, lapped the Mustang GTD Competition in 6:40.835, and Ford engineer Steve Thompson ran 6:49.337 in the latest sessions, only 0.062 seconds behind Cattell’s ZR1X. The Competition package adds aero aids, new tires, magnesium wheels, carbon bucket seats and engine upgrades beyond the regular Mustang GTD, which starts at $325,000. Carscoops says the lap ran in the same Pre-Production/Prototype category as Chevrolet’s, and Chevrolet says its cars were U.S. production spec plus the safety equipment required for the attempt.
Why GM says production cars matter more than records
A second GM voice reinforces the point. Ken Morris, GM’s senior vice president of product safety, integration and motorsports, told GM Authority that the cars used for the company’s numbers are the same ones customers can buy. In his words, the ZR1X time came from “a production car,” and GM published a production car time. Morris said GM will not develop a special mode just to settle a grudge, and Autoblog adds that GM has no interest in building a lap-time-only car that customers will not benefit from. GM Authority also lists Ford’s track-only GT Mk IV at 6:15.977 from April 2026, about 67 of which were built starting at $1.7 million, a reminder that the street-legal category is the one GM is contesting.
Autoblog’s account of the exchange adds the car’s credentials: a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 paired with a front-axle electric motor for 1,250 horsepower, at a starting price of $227,695. It also records the counterpoint that Ford’s car was specially prepared, so the record is still debated, and that the ZR1X has beaten the GTD on other tracks. Chevrolet introduced the car in a June 2025 press release.
What a Pikes Peak run would prove
A Pikes Peak run is a different kind of test from a Nordschleife lap, and that is the point of the choice. Chevrolet had settled on the event before Ford’s latest time was known, so the plan reads as a separate showcase for the ZR1X rather than a counterpunch, and it keeps the car’s next result off Ford’s chosen ground. Roma also said the Nürburgring effort was meant to showcase GM’s engineers, backed by Michelin engineers and an analysis team, not only the car itself, and he credited Ford for its response and the rivalry.
Roma conceded that fans want a rematch. For now, the public scoreboard reads 6:40.835 for the Mustang GTD Competition and 6:49.275 for the Corvette ZR1X, and the next Chevrolet move is planned for Pikes Peak, not the Nürburgring.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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