If you have ever argued with friends about Nürburgring lap times, Jason Cammisa and Randy Pobst basically built an episode around settling it the right way. Same driver, same day, same track, and a course that demands more than just big speed and big aero. Sonoma Raceway is all elevation changes, awkward corner entries, off-camber moments, and walls that creep up on you, which makes it the perfect place to see how three totally different “we mean business” road cars actually perform when the stopwatch is the only judge. The matchup is the 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 with the ZTK package, the Ford Mustang GTD, and the reigning champ from a prior battle, the 992.1 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. The headline is simple: one of them laid down a 1:34.941 to set a new Sonoma production-car lap record, edging the previous benchmark of 1:35.05 from the $2 million Czinger 21C by just 0.109 seconds.

The Corvette ZR1 shows up like it has something personal to prove. It is a mid-engine, twin-turbo 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank V8 monster making 1,064 hp and 828 lb-ft of torque, with a claimed 233 mph top speed, so the straights are basically its hunting ground. But what makes the ZTK-equipped car especially interesting here is the stuff you feel in the brake zones and transitions, not just the speed at the end of the straight. Chevy’s track-focused hardware leans into the “fix the weak link” mentality, including massive carbon-ceramic brakes and Alcon 10-piston front calipers, because Sonoma has plenty of corners where you are either trusting your stopping power or you are lifting early and giving away time. When Pobst is in that rhythm, the ZR1’s advantage is not only the thrust, it is how brutally it can compress a straight into a short problem before the next corner arrives.

The Mustang GTD and 911 GT3 RS take a different approach, and that contrast is what makes this lap battle so addicting to watch. The Mustang GTD is the front-engine wildcard with 815 hp and a 202 mph top track speed, a road-legal offshoot of Ford’s GT3 ambitions that can flirt with nearly $400,000 once you spec it the way most buyers will. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS is the rear-engine scalpel: 518 hp, a 184 mph top track speed, and a $250,000 starting point, with active aero that is designed to keep it glued to the ground when a corner gets weird. Both lean hard on aerodynamics and chassis confidence to make up ground where the Corvette tries to simply erase the next straight. The best part is how clearly this episode shows that lap time is never just “more power wins” or “more downforce wins.” It is the whole recipe, plus a pro driver willing to find the limit in places Sonoma does not forgive.