Porsche will make a challenge to the 2009 the Australian GT Championship following the successful testing of a brand new GT3 997 Cup S model at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway.

The latest GT3 spec Porsche model will join the ever increasing GT field and and based on the times set during the test the car will be a genuine threat in the GT Championship division.

The 997 Cup S will be the first current model Porsche to race in the series in several years due to a controversial ban in the 997 GT3 Cup Car by CAMS in order to protect the Carrera Cup series.

One of only fifteen cars produced and the first to arrive in Australia, the Porsche GT3 997 Cup S has all the necessary ingredients to compete with the Gallardo GT3 model Lamborghini, Aston Martin DBRS9, and Ferrari 430 GT3 that have been the ‘gun’ machines in this year’s Australian GT Championship.
 
The Australian GT3 997 Cup S was imported into the country by Mark Coffey of Maranello Motorsport and has been sold to PR Technology Racing who will enter the car for the last round of the 2008 Championship to be held at Melbourne’s Sandown Park circuit on November 28-29.
 
The GT3 997 Cup S produces 440 bhp (324Kw) from its 6 cylinder boxer engine at 8,000rpm and weighs in at approx 1150kg. This compares with the Gallardo output of 535 bhp, the Ferrari 430 at 483bhp, and the Aston Martin DBRS9 at 483bhp.
 
Following the shakedown test at Sydney’s Eastern Creek raceway the team has reported that the PR Technology Porsche GT3 Cup S performed flawlessly
?Test Driver David Wall was immediately on championship lap record pace in the brand new car which the owner will campaign in the Australian GT Championship.??Richard den Brinker, principal and chief race engineer of PR Technology Racing, said “the GT3 Cup S is the jigger to have in GT Championship division that’s for sure“.??PR Technology will maintain the car at its Brookvale, NSW facility, and manage the race program through 2009.
 
PR Technology Racing has committed to run the Porsche GT3 997 Cup S in the category for a full championship campaign in 2009 where it will join the high quality grid that now includes multiple Lamborghini Gallardo and Ferrari 430 GT3 and 360 entries, two Aston Martin DBRS9’s, a new GT3 Dodge Viper, a team of three Trofeo Maseratis, in addition to the older Cup Car specification Porsche models, other eligible models include the C6 Corvette, and the Ford GT which are currently among the top cars in the FIA GT3 Championship.
 
The opening round of the 2009 Australian GT Championship will be held as part of the Clipsal 500 Adelaide to be conducted from March 19-22. For a category that seemed on it’s last legs only a few months ago the organisers should be congratulated for what appears to be a remarkable recovery.
:With Australian GT series media.