PCA Member Pits Porsche 911 GT2 RS Against GT3 Cup

By James Sapienza - January 1, 2019

This is way better than looking up numbers on Google.

When many of us want to compare the many, many variants of the Porsche 911, we only have a few options. One, we can Google it. Two, we can contact our local dealership or the Porsche Club of America. Or we can check out the Rennlist forums. Or maybe we have a friend that has one of the cars in question and we can compare. But few of us have the resources to, say, pit a 911 GT2 RS road car against a GT3 Cup car on the track and see what happens.

But PCA member Steve Dimakos happens to own both cars. And thanks to Road America and PCA, Dimakos was able to see how his 700 horsepower, 3,241-pound road car fares against his 460-horse, 2,700-pound track day special. The best part? It’s all on video.

He’s no stranger to Porsche. Since his first one, a 964 Turbo, Dimakos has been a diehard Porsche fan. He then graduated to a C4 S track car and has been racing ever since. He’s smitten with his new car, saying: “The 2 RS is a perfect representation of the ultimate car for the reason that it can be a daily driver. You can drive it to the office, and you can take it to the race track.” Nonetheless, he’s still anxious to see how it stands up to his current track toy.

The competition begins

So he has both cars go out to the same track on the same day, piloted by the same driver: Racing pro Bryan Sellers. On top of PCA and Road America’s involvement, Pirelli gets in on the experiment too. They provide DH racing tires for the Cup car, and Trofeo Rs for the GT2. It’s about as even a match as one can make it.

So how do they fare? Of the GT2, Sellers says: “you could really feel the power advantage of the GT2 RS as you accelerated out of the corners, and you could feel it as it started to build down the straightaway, and it never really felt like it stopped pulling.” But in the end, the lighter, more nimble Cup car did better, with a best lap of 2.11.98. The GT2’s best lap was 2.17.04.

Talking about the GT3 car, Sellers says: “On the Cup car, you’re able to go through [Road America’s Kink] with just a lift, if maybe a slight brake. But the GT2 RS was a pretty heavy brake to be able to make it through the corner. So by the time you got to Canada Corner, turn 12, the GT2 RS hadn’t made up any time on the cup car.”

Still, that’s no knock on the GT2. As Sellers says in his closing thoughts: “A street car is a street car, and a race car is a race car. However, if you are going to put a street car on the race track, the GT2 is a monster.”

Dimakos agrees. He says: “While the GT2 RS maybe came in a second or two slower than I anticipated… I will say that the 2:17 time will probably be faster than most people driving cup cars this weekend. That’s pretty impressive… that’s a car that you can now turn around, stop at the grocery store on the way home, then pick up the kids.” We agree, the GT2 RS is pretty much the ultimate street car. Give this video a watch, it’s sure to make your day.