Ford Won’t Pursue Setting Lap Records With The New GT

The Ford GT is an incredible supercar. It’s got the body of a spaceship, a high-tech powertrain, and performance that can rival a race car. Despite all of that, though, Ford isn’t looking to set any new lap records.

Recently, Car and Driver managed to set a time of 2:43.0 at Virginia International Raceway. That makes the GT quicker around the track than a Porsche 918 Spyder. Apparently, that time wasn’t indicative of what the GT was really capable of, as Ford returned to the track and set an even quicker time of 2:38.62. And that’s straight from racer and development driver, Billy Johnson’s Instagram account.

The new lap time was good enough for the GT to become the new lap record holder around VIR. The record lap, according to a report by The Drive, was completed with “just a small support crew, less than ideal circuit conditions, and [racing driver Billy Johnson] driving the Ford GT on that track for the first time.”

One, then, would assume that Ford has a lot left in the tank. With more practice and the stripped out version of the GT, the Competition Series, Ford would probably be able to obliterate the time. The company, though, has zero interest in doing that. And not just at VIR, but at any track.

“We have no plans to go for any lap records at VIR or other circuits going forward,” a Ford rep told the outlet. “As Jamal Hameedi, chief engineer of Ford Performance put it ‘We’ve got new cars to work on.’”

That’s unfortunate, as we’d love to see Chevrolet (whose Camaro boss recently stated that he’d like to see a sub-seven-minute time at the Nurburgring), Dodge, and Ford compete with one another for lap records. This doesn’t mean that a privateer won’t try, though, but it’s refreshing to see that someone has moved beyond the “Ring Lap Time” game that, frankly, has gotten a bit old.