Photo: YouTube screenshot
With Porsche's PDK being one of the sharpest trannies on the market, many never expected the stick shift to return to GT Division 911s once the 991.1 models left the third pedal behind. Fortunately, the 991.2 GT3 busted the Porsche lap time obsession myth and now Andreas Preuninger, the head of the said Porsche arm, has shed further light on the topic.
Talking to Autoguide after the North American debut of the 2018 GT3, which took place last week, at the New York Auto Show, Preuninger went into the details of the Zuffenhausen manual return.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t looking at the stopwatch when they’re on the track and they just want the interaction and they want a driver’s car,” Andreas Preuninger explained."I don’t care that the competition is a little bit faster around the ‘Ring.”
“It’s not our mainstream program to have the quickest lap times and to advertise our cars only by lap time because, to be honest with you, if you have a car with the perfect setup for the Nurburgring, it will be a dog on the street and everywhere else.”
However, you shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the Porsche, has, in any way, forgotten its racetrack roots. In fact, Mr. GT3, as some Porschephilles enjoy calling the exec, delivered a reassuring conclusion.
“We will strike back because the Empire always strikes back,” the executive concluded. “We have some aces up our sleeve because we’re competitive as well,”
We can't help but wonder whether the GT Division frontman is talking about the upcoming 2018 911 GT3 RS, which we've recently spied. It's worth noting that the now-out 991.1 GT3 RS can lap the Nordschleife in 7:20.
Perhaps Preuninger was referring to the new GT2, a Neunelfer derivative that, according to a rumored internal estimate, should be able to go round the infamous German track in 7:05.
This should put Porsche well ahead of the 7:10 time delivered by the Mercedes-AMG GT R, which we suspect stands for "the competition" mentioned above.
And you should keep in mind that both the GT3 RS and the GT2 will, most likely, arrive in PDK-only form.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t looking at the stopwatch when they’re on the track and they just want the interaction and they want a driver’s car,” Andreas Preuninger explained."I don’t care that the competition is a little bit faster around the ‘Ring.”
“It’s not our mainstream program to have the quickest lap times and to advertise our cars only by lap time because, to be honest with you, if you have a car with the perfect setup for the Nurburgring, it will be a dog on the street and everywhere else.”
However, you shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the Porsche, has, in any way, forgotten its racetrack roots. In fact, Mr. GT3, as some Porschephilles enjoy calling the exec, delivered a reassuring conclusion.
“We will strike back because the Empire always strikes back,” the executive concluded. “We have some aces up our sleeve because we’re competitive as well,”
We can't help but wonder whether the GT Division frontman is talking about the upcoming 2018 911 GT3 RS, which we've recently spied. It's worth noting that the now-out 991.1 GT3 RS can lap the Nordschleife in 7:20.
Perhaps Preuninger was referring to the new GT2, a Neunelfer derivative that, according to a rumored internal estimate, should be able to go round the infamous German track in 7:05.
This should put Porsche well ahead of the 7:10 time delivered by the Mercedes-AMG GT R, which we suspect stands for "the competition" mentioned above.
And you should keep in mind that both the GT3 RS and the GT2 will, most likely, arrive in PDK-only form.
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