By now, you’ve probably heard that the new 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 has just set a sizzling Nürburgring lap time: 6: 55.2, faster than the Porsche 918 Spyder’s lap time around the legendary track (if you are using the old ‘Ring timing method). We had the opportunity to speak to the man who set that lap time below seven minutes, Porsche factory driver (and Nürburgring ace) Lars Kern, to find out exactly what happened on that record-setting lap.
“I drove the car from Weissach for the first time to the Nürburgring and immediately felt on the Autobahn how responsive the front axle is,” said Kern Road and trail. “And to be honest, I was worried that the rear could go on. When we arrive [at the Nürburing], we took the car with normal Michelin Cup 2 tires, standard curves, standard toe cap, everything standard, and he curved like crazy, but the rear always followed him. “This met Kern’s preference for a stable rear end and in testing, he says he was immediately confident with the car.
Porsche
Porsche has made significant changes to the suspension of this new generation GT3. While all other 911 road cars used McPherson front suspension, the new GT3 has dual arms, a configuration that Porsche claims to increase steering accuracy and cornering stability. In addition, with the move to the larger 992 platform, the width of the front track grew by 1.9 inches compared to the last GT3. And, of course, the GT3 comes standard with aggressive Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, with an even stickier optional Cup 2 Rs (which the back adjustment car used).
Kern says that the sum total of these changes is a car that looks well planted, especially at the turn. “I think that, especially for track day customers, this will be really beneficial,” he says. “He lost a bit of the old 911 driving style, where you really have to take care of the front axle, think about what to do. Now you can just step on the braking zone, on the curve, and be really rude and aggressive.”
Kern had a chance to test the new GT3 a bit during the Industry Pool, the closed Nürburgring lap sessions, where automakers test prototypes and engineering mules. But he and Porsche factory driver Jörg Bergmeister needed a little more practice before they were comfortable trying lap times. Then, the night before, they brought the GT3s to Touristenfahrten, the legendary open lap sessions where almost anyone can take their car for a ride on the ‘Ring. “When you arrive with two professional pilots and two prototypes at Touristenfahrten, everyone will be like, ‘what’s up here?’ But it wasn’t about getting a lap time, “says Kern.” It was just feeling the car. “
The next day, before starting their official lap time attempt, Bergmeister and Kern agreed to a maximum of three laps each, the drivers not wanting their competitive nature to lead them to risky decisions. His lap times were close, but Kern ended up being the fastest with a 6: 59.927 race on the full circuit. Using the old timing methodology, which shortens the lap length, ending the race a few hundred meters before the start line, Kern’s lap was 6: 55.2.
Of course, many of the improvements in ring time of the new GT3 boil down to the optional Cup 2 R tires. But Kerns says that simply replacing these tires with the old GT3 wouldn’t get you anywhere near the 17-second improvement around the new car. Even in the less aggressive Cup 2s, Kern estimates that the new GT3 should be “at least” seven or eight seconds faster than the old GT3, although Porsche has not measured official lap times with standard equipment tires. He also points out that the Cup 2 Rs is also not a one-lap wonder – the GT3 was able to make two consecutive laps of less than seven minutes on the same set of tires with little loss of performance.
This new GT3 generates a lot more downforce than the old one, around 824 pounds at the most, which is not far from what the old GT3 RS did. “The aerodynamic balance was just perfect. You have a slight understeer on big curves, because you don’t want to slide at 137 km / h, but the car is still agile on medium speed curves … the aerodynamic balance is more in the nose and that gives give you the curve needed to take the time out of the car, “says Kern. “I just arrived and said, ‘Oh shit, this is good.'”
This basically sums up the GT3 as a whole. Kern says it was excellent as soon as it came out of the box. He had no grades for the development team, and the car made it easier to break Porsche’s previous lap records. “The car was perfect when we drove it the first time, so it was up to us to adapt and drive as quickly as possible,” says Kern.
Always a racing professional, Kern thinks there is still a little more time in the new GT3, but he had a bit of a scary moment coming out of the second Karussel, and he didn’t want to take big risks to cut a few tenths here and there. “I’m not Kevin Estre,” he says with a laugh, referring to the razor’s edge ‘Ring that his colleague ran on the next generation GT3 RS in 2018.
Kern says everyone at Porsche is excited about the lap time of the new 503 hp GT3. Now, he wants to see what the new generation 911 can do with even more power. “More power may be needed, the whole chassis looks like more may be needed, so I think we have to put pressure on Porsche to build a GT2 RS,” he says.
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