Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo Developed for ‘Better Drivability’

Photo: John Dagys

The Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo has been designed for improved drivability for professional and gentlemen drivers alike according to Porsche Motorsport North America President and CEO Volker Holzmeyer, who is looking forward to the Evo’s official race debut in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

All three Porsche GTD Pro/GTD entries taking part in this weekend’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway are running with the updated package. which will be mandatory in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.

At least five Porsches are set to take part in the Rolex 24, with full season entries from AO Racing (GTD Pro) and Wright Motorsports (GTD) being joined by Manthey Racing (GTD Pro/GTD) and RS1 (GTD) for the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds next year.

The update, either available as an all-new car or Evo kit, optimizes a number of areas including suspension and aerodynamics, including the addition of louvers on the upper side of the wheel arches, a Gurney flap on the rear wing, modified kinematics on the rear axle and an adapted anti-lock braking system from Bosch.

“In general, this is a small Evo package,” Holzmeyer told Sportscar365. “Developing cars for BoP racing, you have a very small window where it makes sense to improve the car, which is not immediately affected by BoP changes.

“The tricky thing is how you can make a car quicker without adding horsepower or reducing weight or anything which will be considered by the BoP.

“The idea was having race drivability into the car, especially for gentlemen racers, and work on the robustness of the car.

“Speed, weight ad everything like that is covered by BoP. It wouldn’t make sense to invest a lot of money and make the car quicker. The customer pays for it and the next BoP change comes and they’re adding weight and reducing horsepower.

“It’s a special development in BoP racing, so we really focused on customer feedback and tried to get the drivability increased.”

While the 911 GT3 R Evo made its race debut in the Michelin 12H Spa-Francorchamps in April, it has completed further race outings in NLS competition, although January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona will mark the updated car’s first major endurance race.

“For sure the 24 Hours of Daytona will be the first big outing of the evolution stage that we’re at,” said Holzmeyer. “We’re shipping out [Evo kits] and are obviously running at the test this weekend.

“The feedback so far is good. On the aerodynamics side, we’re introducing the louvers in the front, the combination with the different kinematic on the front axle to prevent anti-dive, so the car under braking should be more stable, more drivable and more predictable.

“That should make the drivers more confident in evaluating what’s going on, and that could make the car quicker without being directly impacted by BoP.

“It’s about making the car more predictable and a more linear aero window.

“On the rear, we added a bigger gurney to bring to bring it into the FIA’s window and also change some kinematic points of the rear axle to have less anti-squat.

“It will produce a more stable platform, which makes the car predicable and better performing and hopefully under braking and acceleration. That’s the idea of the aero and the kinematic changes.”

Holzmeyer said several teams, such as Manthey and Wright Motorsports, have purchased all-new cars for next year, although 2024 IMSA GTD Pro champions AO Racing has opted for the upgrade kit.

“The car, in its first seasons, was already super reliable,” added Holzmeyer.

“If you look back at what we won since 2023, two DTM championships, two WEC championships, two Le Mans wins with the GT3 R, one [IMSA] GTD Pro championship, the Intercontinental GT Challenge title.

“The car has been really successful so far, and I think especially in WEC, that goes a long way and it shows that the car is capable of winning races.

“For sure that translates into customer request. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday, I think it’s still working.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John