RACE RELATIONS

Porsche 919 replica meets the 911 Carrera GTS

Not every Kiwi can be as successful as Porsche drivers Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley, as they proved at Le Mans at the weekend. But we now have more opportunities to drive vehicles that are trackable.

Porsche has expanded its 911 Carrera line- up with five models in the GTS range, including rearwheel and all- wheel- drive versions, coupe, cabriolet and a Targa version.

The GTS is the step- up 911 model that can go from the daily commute to the racetrack, though probably not Le Mans.

To celebrate Earl and Brendon’s phenomenal success ( see page 35), Porsche New Zealand helped

Driven put together a show of strength for the brand; the 919 Hybrid replica and the track- able 911 Carrera GTS.

We also scored first Kiwi drive of the GTS that Porsche says is the next step between a 911 Carrera to the track- built GT3.

While the GT3 produces 368kW of power, the GTS isn’t shabby with 331kW of power at 6500rpm.

All GTS models have the new 3.0- litre, six cylinder turbocharged engine that has 550Nm of torque.

It also has 22kW more power

Picture / Matthew Hansen The new Porsche 911 GTS posed with a replica of the Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Kiwis Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber and Germany's Timo Bernhard.