In 2011 the FIA created the Group R-GT rules for rallying, essentially for series production cars that are two-wheel-drive (or converted from four- to two-wheel-drive) and restricted to 294 horsepower per tonne. These cars would then compete in the FIA R-GT Cup, a championship that used the tarmac rounds of the European Rally Championship and the World Rally Championship. For 2014 the FIA announced that technical passports could be obtained for individual vehicles, and with that the doors were open wide for people to get tinkering, to build cars that otherwise wouldn’t have been seen anywhere near a rally stage. Enter the 997.

In 2015, 2016 and 2017, 997 911 GT3s won the FIA R-GT Cup, including one driven by Goodwood regular Romain Dumas. The rear-wheel-drive, rear-engined layout meant good balance, and the simple, reliable Porsche flat-six meant plenty of performance.