Porsche’s next generation GT3 car has now completed its test programme and will be made available for competition starting at the Daytona 24 hours in January 2023. The company has made a number of changes to its previous model, including revised aerodynamics, an engine upgraded to 4.2 litres, wider track, longer wheelbase and a wealth of safety features, all targeted at making the car easier to drive, more durable and also faster.
The base model is the 992 GT3 production car, the choice of not waiting for the GT3 R version having been made early on. This allowed the development team to start work in the summer of 2019. The team looked at all the weaknesses of the 991 Generation 2 and sought to fix them with the new model. Since that point the car has undertaken a massive development programme in preparation for its launch, during the Spa 24 hours in July 2022.
Spa saw 66 GT3 cars from nine different manufacturers take the start – showing that this race has become the showcase for GT3 competition. However, even that race will not be the pinnacle of this new car’s career, because in 2024 the GT3 cars will race at Le Mans, and each of the manufacturers that has produced a new car will be hoping that the draw of the great race helps to drive up sales. Porsche has no fewer than 83 of its 991 Gen 2 cars competing in 2022, and it hopes that the 992-based 911 GT3 R will do even better in the coming years.
The new car is the latest in a long list of new models that have been released. From BMW in 2021, to Lamborghini earlier this year, Ferrari and now Porsche, the category is rapidly seeing an overhaul of machinery ready for the new era.
The 992 GT3 is built to a completely new set of regulations compared to the older car. Gone are the days when a committee decided what was permitted and a manufacturer had to go cap in hand to ask that its development
