Racing Legend Walter Röhrl Drives the Manual Porsche GT3 on Track
Rally legend Walter Röhrl helps Porsche develop its road cars on Nürburgring. Here he is driving the new manual GT3 and giving his impressions.
Walter Röhrl, is first and foremost a two time world rally champion. Starting in rally in the 1970s, Röhrl has won 14 WRC events in his career. During that time, he was racing in some amazing cars. In 1981, he was racing a Porsche 911 SC, in the WRC. Yes, you read that right, a 911 rally car. Next, he was behind the wheel of the awesome Martini Sponsored Lancia 037. This was the successor to the bonkers, Lancia Stratos. A mid-engine, widebody, rear-wheel drive rally car is just, so cool. After the Lancia, Röhrl would pilot the most famous rally car in the world, the Audi Quattro A1.
These legendary rally cars built the Audi’s Quattro brand into what it is today. Group B featured the highest horsepower rally cars ever. Röhrl drove until the class was cancelled. The cars were too fast to be safe on a tight rally stage. He even took third place in the championship in 1985 in the Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2. He also set a Pikes Peak record, on the all gravel course in 1987, with the Audi Quattro S1. So, what does the rally champion have to do with Porsche?
After retiring from racing, Walter Röhrl has been driving for Porsche, as a Senior Development Driver. He specializes in helping the brand develop their road cars. They use the famous Nürburgring to tune the cars, with Röhrl behind the wheel. He is also famous for the testing laps he put into the Porsche Carrera GT supercar and the 991 GT3 RS.
ALSO SEE: Watch as Walter Röhrl Flogs the New Cayman GT4
In this video, Porsche has once again brought Mr. Röhrl to a track with one of its latest performance road cars. The new 991.2 GT3 is out and the track bred Porsche has a manual transmission option again. Röhrl takes this bright yellow example around the track, giving us his impressions of the car. Of course, being a rally driver, he slides the rear end around a bit. Although the video is titled: Driving Lesson, there is not much of a lesson here. So maybe, Porsche means they learned their lesson after not offering a manual transmission on the 991.1 GT3? We are glad to see Mr. Röhrl and the stick shift back in the GT3 again. Let us know what you think in the comments.
