WATCH: New Porsche 911 GT3 RS proves its pace at Nurburgring

The brand-new 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS has become the fastest naturally-aspirated Porsche production vehicle to lap the Nurburgring with a time of 6:49.328 minutes – 10.6 seconds faster than the standard 992-series GT3 (6:59.927).

Piloted by Porsche brand ambassador and development driver Jorg Bergmeister, the car in question was fitted with the optional Weissach Package (carbon-fibre reinforced plastic swaybars, rear coupling rods, rear axle sheer panel and roll cage), along with separately available Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R semi-slick tyres.

Despite the almost unprecedented levels of aero technology integrated into the new GT3 RS, Bergmeister said the strong and blustery winds recorded on the day robbed the car of some downforce, suggesting an even faster time could be on the cards.

Still, the time drew plenty of admiration from Porsche GT Cars director Andreas Preuninger, who said the GT3 RS had “delivered what it had already promised at first glance”.

“Considering the far from ideal conditions, with a strong headwind on the long straight of the Dottinger Hohe and the cool asphalt temperatures, we were satisfied with this time,” he said.

“The 911 GT3 RS is setting new standards for aerodynamics and the chassis. Never before has a car embodied so much motorsport.”

The new GT3 RS is just 15kg lighter than the standard GT3 and brings only an extra 11kW of power, so aerodynamics is unashamedly the name of the game here, with the wing-covered sports car generating 860kg of downforce at 285km/h – three times as much as its donor vehicle.

For the record, the ferocious Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey set a new production car lap record of 6:43.300 at the Nurburgring in June 2021, beating the time set by the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series in November 2020 by just 0.3sec.

Depending on how much more grip and performance Porsche’s GT engineers can extra from the RS, the eventual 992.2 version of the free-breathing 911 flagship might be in with a chance of dethroning the old GT2 RS and set a new production car lap record at the famous 21km German road circuit… should it get some more favourable track conditions.

Time will tell!