porsche 911 gt2 rs at bathurst
Carsales Staff27 Nov 2020
NEWS

Porsche 911 GT2 RS smashes Bathurst lap record

Top-shelf 911 trims more than two seconds off arch-rival's production car benchmark at Mount Panorama

The Porsche 911 GT2 RS has set a new production car lap record at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama circuit.

Targa competitor Jeff Morton logged a time of 2:14.238 in a Super Sprint session during the Challenge Bathurst event at the famous 6.213km circuit this morning.

The privateer racer’s time is more than two seconds better than the previous production cap lap record of 2:16.5, set by professional racer and Le Mans veteran Bernd Schneider in the Mercedes-AMG GT R in 2017.

For reference, Cameron Waters notched up the fastest ever time set in a Top 10 Shootout at the 2020 Bathurst 1000 in October, with a time of 2:03.559 in his Mustang Supercar.

The current official Mount Panorama lap record is held by Christopher Mies, who set a time of 1:59.2910 during the 2018 Challenge Bathurst in a GT3-spec Audi R8 Ultra race car. Faster laps have been recorded at Mount Panorama but not during a race so do not qualify as records.

Jenson Button posted a time of a time of 1:48.88 in a McLaren MP4-23 Formula 1 car as part of a publicity for the 2011 Australian Grand Prix, while last year carsales road tester and 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner Luke Youlden recorded the fastest official lap of Bathurst -- 1:58.694 in a Brabham BT62 racer.

porsche 911 gt2 rs at bathurst2

“I’m extremely happy. The time came pretty easily in the end,” Morton said.

“We put a new set of Goodyear Supersport RS tyres on for the session, and they gave me enormous confidence, especially under brakes.

“The car feels amazing; the handling across the top of the Mountain is awesome and the acceleration out of the corners is phenomenal.

“I was surprisingly calm throughout the process; the car just did everything so well and gave me complete confidence to explore the limits.”

Morton’s car was prepared by GWR Australia and employed the Porsche Track Precision App, which displays real-time driving data on the car’s infotainment screen via Apple CarPlay and the Porsche Communication Management (PCM) system.

“In the first session, I lapped the circuit in 2:15.8, but I was baulked by a slower car in Murray’s Corner. I was elated to achieve the record, but I knew there was more in it and in the second session, once I had some clear track, I was able to do three 2:14 second laps in a row,” said Morton.

“My fastest speed on Conrod Straight was 299.6km/h; we didn’t quite get to 300 km/h, but maybe next year!”

The legendary Mount Panorama circuit is the latest to be conquered by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, which has also set production car lap records at Road Atlanta and Road America.

Priced at a cool $645,000 when it was released Down Under in April 2018, the limited-production 991-series 911 GT2 RS is powered by a 515kW/750Nm 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat six that revs to 9000rpm.

The stripped-out, rear-drive range-topper can hit 100km/h in just 3.8, making it the quickest and most powerful street-legal 911 ever produced.

Its replacement will be the final version of the latest 992-series 911 to appear – after the new GT3 and GT3 RS next year, and the facelifted 992.2 model in 2022.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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