Due to the absence of the official Porsche team in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, only privateers with the nearly obsolete air-cooled 993 GT2 Turbo were expected to represent the marque, with few chances to beat the Chrysler Viper for GTS class honors. Yet, two new race versions of the water-cooled 996 GT3-R showed up, officially entered in the GT class by private teams, but the drivers involved and Porsche engineers in the pits indicated that it was an effort backed by the company. Even though these were the least powerful cars in the event, being the only entrants in the GT class, the new GT3-R was noticed by fans for its loud exhaust sound when driving in 1st gear through the pitlane, comparable to ex-Formula 1 engines of Judd. The better of the two cars, entered by the German Manthey Racing team, finished 13th overall, beaten by only two of the Vipers with an engine more than twice as big.

The 996 GT3-R were made available to privateer teams. In the 24 Hours Nürburgring of the year 2000, a factory-backed effort of the local Phoenix team managed to beat the Zakspeed Chrysler Viper that dominated this race from 1999 to 2002.