Porsche 911 Turbo and GT3 keep current engines

While the new 9A2 3.0-litre turbocharged boxer engine will quickly flood through most of the Porsche 911 range, the Turbo and the GT3 will continue to chart their own course.

The Turbo and Turbo S will be released late this year in 991.2 guise with an updated (read powered up) version of the current 9A1 3.8-litre, while the GT3 and GT3 RS will continue with naturally-aspirated versions of the 9A1.

The GT3s will be the only models left in the range full-time that will be naturally aspirated.

The confirmation that the Turbo will stick with the 3.8 and the GT3s will stay nat-atmo came via 911 development chief August Achleitner during a 991.2 911 Carrera and Carrera S technical workshop before the car's reveal with the 9A2 at the Frankfurt auto show.

"From the end of this year we have two turbo versions, one is the 3.0-litre and the other is the 3.8-litre.

"We do this because the new engine is optimised for smaller turbochargers.

"The Turbo stays with today's engine, also with some [additional] equipment. But we see that later in the year.

"We have three engines – the new Turbo, the 3.8 Turbo and the naturally aspirated GT3 and GT RS."

The GT3 made the transition from the legendary Mezger engine to a 3.8-litre 9A1 engine when the 991 generation was launched last year. The RS followed at the Geneva show this year and made the transition from Mezger to a 4.0-litre version of the 9A1.

"In the future we wanted to keep the naturally aspirated engine at least for the GT3 to offer a different character, but the standard Carreras will come only with the turbo engines," said Achleitner.

However, because the GT3s are developed and built by the motorsport department, with Achleitner's crew playing a supporting role, he said it was difficult to estimate when or if a naturally aspirated version of the 9A2 would be adapted for use in them.

"The guys from the racing department will have to look for all these regulations around the world so they will also have to improve and develop this engine," he said.

"But the way in the future more than the next two or three years concerning the GT models is not yet decided."

Achleitner revealed that Porsche's testing showed the performance gap between the 9A2 Carrera and 9A1 Turbo had closed because of the former's new engine, which helps explain why Porsche feels the Turbo needs to be boosted from its current 383kW/412kW (S).

"You could absolutely feel this car is much, much faster than the standard [991] 911.

"Especially on country roads because you do some acceleration out of the curves and you don't need to come up to high revs – let me say more than 4000 rpms.

"It just pushes you ahead from 2000rpm and that total makes the car much more faster, much easier and the gap to the big turbo is smaller than before."