Porsche 911 GT3 Sets New Lap Record at Nürburgring-Nordschleife

The 2025 Porsche 911 GT3 has become the fastest production car with a manual transmission on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Porsche brand ambassador Joerg Bergmeister beat the previous record, set by a competitor with a more powerful engine, by over 9.5 seconds, according to the company. Due to extensive continued development of all performance-relevant vehicle components, the manual 911 GT3 with optional Weissach Package was 3.633 seconds quicker than the predecessor model (992.1) with the company’s PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission, according to a press release.

“More and more customers of the 911 GT3 are opting for the 6-speed manual transmission. And more and more often we are asked by these customers how fast a 911 GT3 with manual transmission would be on the Nordschleife,” said Andreas Preuninger, director GT Cars. “We have now answered this question and, although we know that the variant with PDK is significantly faster, drove our lap time with a manual 6-speed gearbox. Even without the automated, super-fast and precise gearshifts of the PDK, and with a mechanical instead of electronically controlled limited-slip differential, the new 911 GT3 takes around 3.6 seconds off its predecessor with PDK.”

Setting Lap Record With Manual Transmission Production Vehicle

In sunny weather, at 54 degrees Fahrenheit ambient and 80 degrees asphalt temperature, Bergmeister set out on the 12.94-mile track in the late afternoon in the 502-horsepower 911 GT3 with optional Weissach Package. As with the official lap of the previous model, he drove using road-legal Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires in the dimensions 255/35 R 20 at the front and 315/30 R 21 at the rear.

“When we decided to set the official lap time of the new 911 GT3 with manual transmission, we naturally also looked at who was at the top of the leaderboard,” said Preuninger.

A competitor needed 7:01.300 minutes for the shorter 12.8-mile track layout. This corresponds to a time of around 7:05.800 minutes on the full 12.94-mile lap. Under the supervision of an independent notary public, the lap time of the new 911 GT3 was validated at 6:56.294 minutes for the 12.94-mile lap. With that, Bergmeister improved the previous lap record by more than 9.5 seconds.

“The new 911 GT3 inspires even more confidence at the limit than the previous model. I was faster in almost every corner,” said Bergmeister, describing the handling of the sports car. “We learned a lot from the 911 GT3 RS, especially with the chassis. The car is even more stable on bumps and over the curbs. And thanks to the 8% shorter gear ratio, there is noticeably more power on the rear axle when accelerating with the same engine power. Even if it would have been a few seconds faster with the 7-speed PDK—with the 6-speed manual gearbox, I definitely had more to do on the fast lap and thus also a bit more fun.”