Porsche redesigns the 911 RSR, shows it off at Goodwood

The new Porsche 911 RSR at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

PORSCHE announced it will replace the 911 RSR with a version whose redesign was gleaned from the outgoing car’s recent successes.

The carmaker said it won the manufacturers’ and drivers’ world championship in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), as well as the Le Mans endurance classic (France) and the IMSA races at Sebring and Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans), among other events in 2019.

“Since 2017 the 911 RSR has yielded us more than 20 class wins in the world championship, as well as at long-distance series in North America and Europe. Our job in the development was to make a very good car even better,” said Porsche Motorsport vice-president Fritz Enzinger.

Porsche said its engineers “noticed room for improvement in a number of areas” and so have made “significant progress in the development of the car for the next three-year homologation period, especially in the complex areas of driveability, efficiency, durability and serviceability.”

Ninety-five percent of the latest 911 RSR’s components is new.

Porsche noted that 95% of the car is new. The only components left unchanged are the headlights, brake system, clutch, driver’s seat and parts of the suspension. The carmaker said the team is “already looking forward to the first races of the 2019/2020 FIA WEC season.”

One key component new to the 911 RSR is the larger-displacement, naturally aspirated flat-six engine. The 4.2-liter engine, mounted in front of the rear axle, produces around 515hp. Porsche said this new power plant is the largest ever fitted to a 911 “ex-works” car.

The power is delivered to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential, constant-mesh gearbox.

The new 911 RSR made its world premiere on July 6 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. The car will then make its race debut at the season-opening round of the FIA WEC at Silverstone on September 1.

Porsche said its GT Team will field two works cars at eight rounds of the 2019/2020 season with drivers Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz.