“Un gioellino”: A Porsche to kneel down to
Porsche 997 GT2 RS meets 997 GT3 R
A lot has to happen to send Jochen Trettl into raptures. The Managing Director of our BILSTEIN Service Center N.T.P. in Italy deals with spectacular racing cars and fascinating sports cars every day. But in this case, even Jochen goes into rhapsodies: “A gem, or as we would say in Italian un gioellino, created by the companies D-Factory and Krypton Motorsport!” This gem is the heavily modified Porsche 911 GT2 RS belonging to the entrepreneur Andrea Albergo.
Andrea is quite biased: The Italian has been haunting Europe’s race tracks since the early 2000s. First in a BMW M3 CSL, later in a Porsche 911 (996) GT2. In 2015 Andrea swapped his trackday-proven 911 for the 997 GT2 RS, which he purchased from the team boss of the Italian racing team Krypton Motorsport.
While many GT2s meet the fate of rolling directly into a private museum after delivery, Andrea consistently moves his exemplar in its natural habitat – on the race track. In 2016 he won the supercar class of the Italian Time Attack series with his 600 hp Porsche.
When visiting Krypton Motorsport, a racing team based near Brescia, 40 kilometres east of Milan, Andrea fell in love with the Porsche 997 GT3 R one day. A race car that the team used together with a Porsche 997 Cup at various races.
As soon as I saw it I fell in love with this wonderful and exaggerated racing car given its shapes, its unmistakable wide body and its big wings that were for me the embodiment of a racing Porsche
Andrea says with enthusiasm
It was one of those days when anything seems possible, when Andrea had an absolutely fantastic idea. “And so one day the idea was born to assemble all the complete aerodynamics (bodywork, conveyors, wings, flat bottom, suspension arms, etc.) of the GT3R to handle the extraordinary power of the mechanics of the 997 GT2 3.8 biturbo of about 700hp,” explains the Porsche fan. The plan became a project.
“The project started with the intention of creating a specimen exactly as Porsche could have conceived and developed”. Since Andrea does not do things by halves, he and his team (almost) exclusively used original Porsche parts. In addition, every modification was discussed and debated with mechanics and engineers from Porsche Motorsport.
“And so finally the aero is completely equivalent to 997 GT3R and totally efficient”, Andrea is more than satisfied with the mega conversion, which helps the GT2 RS to achieve maximum downforce. In order to achieve a healthy relationship between downforce and propulsion, the motor was redesigned and optimized: Two larger intercoolers and new turbines with variable geometry from Porsche Motorsport help the engine to deliver 700 hp.
“Obviously all the work done without adequate suspension would have made no sense,” explains Andrea, “I made the best choice by having the BILSTEIN MDS 2WAY customized. I honestly didn’t think that the dynamics of the car could improve so much. The driving precision is impressive. Traction, despite the power, is superb and even during braking the car remains flat and does not move. On the track also the passage over the curbs happens with extreme naturalness and the feeling of safety and grip that the machine transmits is the greatest plus of the whole project,” Andrea enthuses.
And even the great Walter Röhrl was enthusiastic about Andreas’ uber-Porsche and its suspension: At N.T.P.’s 30th anniversary celebrations, the two-time Rally World Champion took his seat in the cockpit and didn’t want to leave the car any more.
However, the “track tool” is not only convincing with its unbeatable driving dynamics, but also with a certain suitability for everyday use: The BILSTEIN 2-way MDS suspension is connected to a lift system on both the front and rear axles, allowing the car to be raised by 5 cm. In this way, the car can be moved – within a narrow range – even on the road.
However, the preferred area of application for the Porsche 997 GT3 R is and remains the race track. Andrea was particularly impressed by the cornering speeds: “The total lack of understeer is incredible. You can enter a curve at an unthinkable speed compared to before thanks to the suspension but also to the aerodynamic load and the very wide front tires. The thing that I liked most, however, is the speed is the precision obtained in changes of direction. You can act decisively with the steering without ever undermining stability and the car is far more reactive than before.”
Incredibly fast on the racetrack, the Porsche 997 GT3 R is also a visual eye-catcher with the midnight black foils of Andreas’ company D-Factory and the BBS E88 13″x19″ alloy rear wheels and 12″x19″ front wheels. “Sheer poetry!” as Jochen Trettl would say.
