The Porsche 911 GT3 RS is one of the most track-capable vehicles on the planet so it’s no surprise that it just broke the production car record in Road America. The street-legal sportscar recorded a lap time of 2:13.8, with racing driver Dimitri Dimakos behind the wheel.
The 992-based GT3 RS was nearly 2 seconds faster than the previous record holder, a 991.2 Porsche 911 GT2 RS (2:15.1), despite the big difference in power output. It also proved to be over 4.5 seconds quicker than the previous-generation 911 GT3 RS on the same track.
The freshly paved Road America track is located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and has a length of 4 miles with a total of 14 turns. Conditions at the time of the attempt were near-perfect with a temperature of 75°F (24°C), and a track temperature of 90°F (32°C). The lap time was recorded from the onboard VBOX equipment and validated by Goldcrest Motorsports.
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Professional racing driver Dimakos is no stranger to Road America as a veteran of the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America. Following his record-breaking lap, he said: “The biggest thing is not necessarily the lap time; it is the ease at which the car can achieve that lap time and the confidence it inspires in the driver. The car can be driven by someone who is a novice or intermediate-level driver and still be very fast and comfortable to drive.” Comparing the road-legal 911 GT3 RS with the GT3 Cup racer, Dimakos said that the braking is “nearly identical,” adding “I was braking at exactly the same spot. No wiggling at all. The car stopped exactly straight, turned in great.”
The model used in the attempt was a privately owned 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS which had been delivered just a few weeks ago. The production-spec vehicle was “aligned for the track by an authorized Porsche Center” and came fitted with the optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R N0 tires measuring 275/35 ZR20 at the front and 335/30 ZR21 at the rear. As a refresher, the GT3 RS comes fitted with a 4.0-liter flat-six engine producing 518 hp (525 PS), exclusively mated to a seven-speed PDK gearbox. The model has the most extreme aero package of the 992 series and comes with a version-specific track-focused chassis setup.
