Porsche 911 GT2 RS Club Sport Takes on 911 GT3 Cup Car
Porsche 911 GT2 RS Club Sport and 911 GT3 Cup Car track battle has a surprising outcome.
Porsche is constantly adding new models to their lineup at the same time that they continually sharpen the cars they’re already producing. The folks behind the Porsche Club of America’s Panorama magazine were lucky enough to be on hand for a track battle between a 911 (991.2) GT3 Cup car and the recently unveiled 911 GT2 RS Club Sport. PCA’s YouTube channel put up a video of the face-off and the results are fascinating, to say the least.
Steve Dimakos was lucky enough to land an allocation for the rare and elusive GT2 RS Club Sport. The special edition racer is gear towards privateer (or “gentleman racers”) who want to go racing. The GT2 RS Club Sport certainly impresses on paper. It’s twin-turbo, flat-6 pumps out 700-hp and is tasked with hauling around a car that weighs only 3064-lbs. With a race built chassis, suspension and brakes, performance is certainly scintillating. The owner of the GT3 Cup Car is Steven Anderson. The 2018 GT3 was purchased out of Europe after racing competitively in the German Super Cup series and even wears the same race livery that it used while racing. The 485-hp GT3 is down by 200-hp, but at 2646-lbs weighs less than the more powerful GT2.
Tasked with driving both cars on track at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is seasoned race car driver Leh Keen, owner of The Keen Project. Keen also drives a Manthey Racing 911 GT3 Cup Car, so is definitely not lacking in experience behind the wheel of a variety of Porsche race cars. At the beginning of the video, the general consensus is that the GT3 might lose to the GT2, but not by more than a second or so. “What I think is going to help our car do well is the fact that its a pure racecar,” says the GT3’s owner. “Even though the GT2 has 200 more horsepower I think that the GT3 cup is going to give a run for its money.”
Once Keen completes his hot laps in both cars, there is a clear winner. The twin-turbo GT2 turned in an impressive time of 2.08.56, beating the Cup Car’s time of 2:11.67. “In the end, the lap time is pretty close but the feeling was so different,” says Keen of the two 911s. “The Cup Car felt way lighter, the engine screaming, the gearbox screaming, it felt more raw, more free. The car was loose with a little oversteer, the cars telling you things. Then hopping into the Club Sport, everything was really smooth, it was quiet. It basically did what you wanted it to. You turn the wheel, the front grip was there. You mash the throttle, the rear grip is there for you. The Club Sport gave you a lot of confidence, whereas the Cup Car didn’t give you as much.” In the end, the GT2 Club Sport’s extra power and more predictable driving style gave it the win.