Porsche Tests New Racers. A new 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport has been spotted testing at Monza alongside the new 934 and forthcoming 992… Photography: Marco Oltolini.
Porsche has been spotted publicly testing a new 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport alongside a lightly disguised 992 with a roll cage – the forthcoming new 911 – and the ‘new’ 935 at Italy’s high-speed Monza circuit. Of the three cars spotted the new 718 Cayman (above) is perhaps the most interesting development, it will mimic a forthcoming second-generation GT4 road car – we expect the track orientated version to make its racing debut next season.
Rumoured to utilise the latest 911 GT3’s 4.0-litre flat-six naturally-aspirated engine, the new racer will run in the region of 400hp and will be kept glued to the track with aggressive aerodynamic additions. Porsche tested the water with the 981 GT4 Clubsport, first revealed in 2015, later homologating the car for use in a wide number of sports car championships around the world. Earlier this year it investigated the option to offer the GT4 as a rally car, so there’s every chance the firm will look to grow the car’s sporting role with this new second-generation offering in order to amplify the road-going car’s motorsport genealogy. At this stage Porsche will not comment on the development of the new GT4.
Though the 935 (below centre and right), which is based on GT2 RS underpinings will not, as we understand it, be competing in professional racing series, Porsche clearly intends to ensure that it is able to perform to the highest level. The high-speed straights, fast corners, big braking zones and harsh raised kerbs of Autodromo Nazionale Monza near Milan are ideal for putting a serious track car such as this through its paces. Though there’s every chance that the lightly camouflaged 992 (below left) is also a track-bias offering in disguise, it would be too speculative at this stage to confirm whether or not what we see here is a road or track car. Porsche has promised continued focus on its GT programme with 911 RSR and 911 GT3 R going forward, ‘more Porsche one-make cups than ever before’ and is widely understood to be investigating the opportunity to develop a high performance combustion engine. We expect the next generation of 992 GT3 Cup car to arrive in 2020, gravitating down to country specific championships like the Carrera Cup GB in 2022.
