New Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS destroys GT4’s Nürburgring lap time

Excitement brews for the Rennsport-badged 718 GT4 RS, Porsche's most track-capable mid-engined 718 ever. This anticipation has reached boiling point as the late-stage prototype scorched around the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a 7:04.5 lap time, some 23 seconds faster than the current GT4.

Porsche has released images and videos backing up this claim, and it gives us some great insights into the hardware we can expect. 

What’s different about the Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS?

Exterior shots show the Porsche has worked hard on the aerodynamics package. Gone is the standard GT4 wing, which has been replaced with a top-mounted unit. The bonnet now has a central crease and two NACA-style ducts.

The front ventilated wings are almost covered up, but not quite, similar to the GT3 RS. If you’ve seen an RS with the optional Weissach package, you’ll notice the prototype 718 GT4 RS has the same 20-inch centrelock design.

At the rear quarter, you can see the windows have been replaced with moulded intakes. These may or may not be functional, but we suspect there’s some fun induction magic at play here.

What’s under the bonnet of the Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS?

The late-stage prototype RS has a naturally-aspirated flat-six four-litre engine mated with a seven-speed clutch tranny. The seven-speed is the only option on other RS models, so we expect that to be the case on the 718 GT4 RS, too.

Exact figures for horsepower and torque will undoubtedly be released soon, but the latest results mean we can expect a substantial boost in horsepower to over 500. Interestingly, the videos released by Porsche show an rpm meter clumping to 9,000 rpm, around 1,000 more than the standard GT4 is capable of. This could suggest the GT4 RS is foregoing the standard GT4’s engine and instead using a tuned version of the engine from the 992 GT3.