First Drive: Porsche Panamera GTS

It’s 12 hours before my appointment at the Ascari Race Resort in Spain, that surreal racetrack built by Dutchman Klaas Zwart for his own and friends’ amusement. Porsche has hired the facility for us to drive its new baby.

It’s a bouncing, bonny baby. 4,300 pounds of Panamera, upgraded to make it a more finely balanced machine than the Turbo in circumstances where there are more curves than straightaways.

Sitting next to me in the restaurant some miles away in Malaga is Andreas Jaksch, the Panamera project manager since its inception. He’s a 33-year Porsche man, cutting his teeth in engine development for the 944 2.5 and rising though the ranks to become big cheese on the big saloon.

He’s excited about his new car, which takes the best bits of the naturally aspirated Panamera Carrera 4S and adds a new inlet camshaft and other trickery to gain 30hp and a little more torque. The air suspension sits 10mm (0.4 inch) lower as well, which sounds too little to get excited about, but hey, I guess Andreas knows best.