Porsche is no stranger to rallying. It won the Monte Carlo in 1967 with a 911T and Paris-Dakar in 1986 with its all-wheel drive 959 supercar, after all. Now, it's returning to the World Rally Championship with a rally-prepped version of its new 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Hell yes.

The decision to offer an FIA-compliant rally car for use in the WRC came after positive feedback from running its concept rally car at the 2018 Rally Deutschland. But unlike the concept, which was based off the last-gen Cayman GT4 (shown above and in the gallery below), this production model will be based off the new 718 Cayman GT4, which was first revealed at Daytona earlier this month. That means 425 horsepower from a 3.8-liter naturally aspirated flat-six engine, sending power to the rear wheels via a six-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

The car will compete in the FIA's R-GT class, meaning it'll go head to head with cars like the Aston Martin Vantage, Porsche 997 GT3, and Fiat 124 Abarth. Its first test run is scheduled for this weekend, January 19th to the 20th, 2019, in Austria during a Porsche winter event. It will be piloted by WEC driver Richard Lietz. It will be ready to race by the start of the 2020 season.

Porsche says most of its positive feedback came from the Cayman GT4's relatively low operating costs compared to other cars. This is because it shares so much with the road-going production model. We can't wait to see this car tear up rally stages across the world come 2020.

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