Porsche 911 GTS threatens GT3

The internal competition between Porsche's road and motorsport departments has been dialled up another notch with the new 911 GTS claimed to have narrowed the performance gap to its hard-core GT3 sibling – now closer than ever.

The turbocharged 991.2 versions of the Carrera Coupe, Cabrio and Targa 4 GTS go on sale in Australia early in the second quarter, boasting solid power and massive torque growth compared to their naturally-aspirated predecessors.

The improvement is so pronounced Porsche is claiming a 12-second cut in lap time to 7 min 26 secs for the fastest GTS, the rear-wheel drive Carrera Coupe, around the fearsome Nurburgring Nordschleife (in pro hands of course).

Trade the standard 20-inch tyres for new PZero Corsa Ultra High Performance (UHP) semi-slicks that are available as an option and up to another six seconds can be peeled off that time. That matches the time of the manic 4.0-litre 368kW/480Nm GT 3 RS when it was launched in 2015.

The GT 3's claimed best lap time at the Nurburgring is 7 Min 25 sec, but the hyper RS version cuts that to 7 min 20 sec, so it really is lineball.

The 991.2 Carrera S has a best time of 7 min 30 sec.

Of course, there is a GT3 update coming that will no doubt re-extend the racer for the road's time buffer over the GTS, while the motorsport department is also developing a GT2 RS that is expected to re-set the performance standard for all 911s.

But for now, 911 model line director Thomas Krickelberg, who is in charge of all non-motorsport-developed models from the Carrera 2 to Turbo S, is quietly crowing about the gains made by the GTS.

"From a power and a torque view we are closer to the GT3 lap times, so we are very close to the GT3 now and this is due to the performance of the car," he told motoring.com.au at the launch of the GTS in South Africa last week.

You can read our first drive assessment of the GTS form that launch here . And you can check out the rundown on the car's equipment and pricing from the Detroit motor show from our report last month.

The new GTS makes 331kW and 550Nm from its 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six engine. That's 22kW and 50Nm more than the similarly-engined Carrera S. It's also 15kW and 100Nm more than the old 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated 991 GTS.

Crucially, it also makes its maximum torque on a broader basis from 3600rpm to 5000rpm, whereas its predecessor's torque peak was at 5600rpm.

Krickelberg says this is the key reason why the new GTS is so much faster than the old car and why it has closed the gap to the naturally-aspirated GT 3, which makes 350kW and 440Nm from its 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated engine.

"We have now new turbochargers in the GTS compared to the S," Krickelberg explained. "We have increased the diameter of the turbine wheel from 45mm to 48mm and the compressor wheel is also bigger; we change it from 51mm to 55mm. That gave us the additional power."

On the road
While Krickelberg was extolling the on-track performance of the GTS, Porsche pushes the car as its ultimate choice for those wanting day-to-day as well as track performance, sitting between the Carrera S and the GT3.

"Compared to the predecessor we have much higher torque at low speed and that is the major difference in day to day driving," he said.

"The application and the data in the ECU are different [to the Carrera S]," he added. "We did some small refinements in idle and some backfires so it sounds a little bit more emotional. Compare to the Carrera S we reduce the insulation material in the Coupe and the Cabrio, but there is a major effect in the Coupe so that you get more noise through the cabin.

"We also saved weight, 1.5kg, but major thing was the sound."

The rear- and all-wheel drive (or '4') GTS Coupe also get the PASM sports chassis that lowers the car 20mm compared to the Carrera S, rather than the standard PASM allocated to the Cabrio and Targa, which is 10mm lower. All GTS models get the wider rear-end from the Carrera 4 and a 0.5mm fatter rear anti-roll bar than the Carrera S.

Krickelberg all-but confirmed the GTS would be the last full-time model line addition to the mainstream 911 model line-up between now and its replacement by the 992 overhaul, beginning later this decade.

Instead, limited editions will be the focus, something Porsche has proved itself adept at when running out the 911.

"We have some ideas but we are talking about the future," he said. "More special editions, that is the actual trend. People like to spend the money for a 911 R or something like that.

"We use such special editions at the end of the lifetime cycle before we launch the next 911 when we bring some special editions to push for sales."