Porsche 997 GT2 RSR Is a Martini Turbo Monster, Laps Monza Incredibly Fast

You see, Porsche built the first-ever GT2 for the twin-turbo 993 to meet homologation requirements for GT2-class racing. It was raced, alongside its GT1-spec GT2 Evo variant, extensively and successfully, but it became obsolete by 1999 when the Dodge Viper stepped in to dominate the class.

While privateers had hopes that the introduction of the 996-gen GT2 would see a brand-new race car hit the track, Porsche opted to keep the badge on road-going vehicles only. To this day!

But that didn't stop the folks over at RS Tuning from building their own GT2-spec race based on a 997-generation 911. A custom track toy that brings together loads of bespoke parts, an RSR-style body, and a stroked 911 GT2 engine, this Martini-badged 911 is perhaps the most extreme race-spec Porsche built outside the company's factory.

A truly unique beast, this contraption started life as a 997-generation GT3 RSR chassis, on which RS Tuning dropped a GT3 RSR Evo body kit. If you know your race-spec Porsche 911s, you will notice that it doesn't quite look like a GT3 RSR. And you'd be right because the body was altered with a longer front splitter, a bigger and higher rear wing, and a big vent in the rear bumper.

But perhaps the most notable departure from the standard Porsche GT design is the addition of big intakes atop the rear fenders. They remind me of the big scoops mounted on open-top prototype racers of the 1970s and I think that's downright fantastic. Both the front and rear bumpers are far more aggressive than the regular 911 GT3 race car.

So what makes this race car a GT2? After all, it's basically a modified GT3 RSR body on top of a GT3 RSR chassis, right?. Well, the engine that hides beneath the rear hood was sourced from a road-legal, 997-generation GT2. But it's been modified too.

Stroked from 3.6 to 3.9 liters, the twin-turbo flat-six cranks out way more than it used to in the stock 911 GT2. It actually has a variable power output, ranging from 680 to a massive 830 horsepower, depending on turbo boost. For reference, the 997-spec GT2 came with 523 horsepower on tap, while the GT2 RS delivered 612 horses. Hell, this thing is only 11 horsepower shy of the 991-gen GT2 RS in its least powerful setup.

With a curb weight of only 1,280 kg (2,822 pounds), this custom-built RSR is around 150 kg (331 pounds) lighter than both the 997 GT2 and the 991.2 GT2 RS. As you might have already guessed, it's also tremendously fast and laps the Monza circuit quicker than any 911 out there.

Specifically, the car's fastest lap on the Italian track came in at 1:45.686 minutes, which is almost a second quicker than the factory-built, LM GTE-spec Porsche 911 RSR. The RSR is also two full seconds faster than a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo. Check it out in the video below.