Look like comments about this article are getting split up amongst two threads. Oh well. Sorry for the repost but I really wanted to put the thoughts I put over there over here as well.
+1 on the other comments about the M3. 2nd place - UNREAL!
This car just is not in the 911TT nor GT-R league, yet it totally held its own. It is an honor to even be invited to such a test IMHO. It even scored the fastest at more than one spot in the track. What an accomplishment
. The damp conditions (as noted above) absolutely helped all of the other AWD-ers and hurt the M3. It would also be very interesting to know if the car had MPS or MPSC+ tires. That makes a big difference. The M3 has already basically matched the R8 at the N'Ring, when both had similar tires. Also recall the M3 has already also "bested" even the mighty GT3 by the judgement of a German magazine. Sure we all know which is faster in most straights and the corners, and which is clearly the better track car, but this comparison took some practicality, comfort and cost points into consideration. Like I keep saying M-DCT will continue to narrow the margins against such respectable "competition".