Each year the guys at Motor Trend make a selection of some of the finest sports cars on sale and take them through several tests in order to determine a winner as the Best Driver’s Car for the year.

In the video that follows, the track-oriented Porsche 911 GT3 RS (Type 997 MK2) is being driven hard by Randy Pobst (aka “The Rocket”) on Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca . The lap time achieved is 1:36.77 which is less than half a second slower than that posted by Lexus LFA, the fastest car tested by Motor Trend for 2011′s Best Driver’s Car. But let’s not forget that the Lexus is almost three times as expensive and the GT3 RS has no paddle shift gadgetry, but a good old-fashioned manual gearbox… which may add some time depending on the skills of the driver.

You can enjoy the video after the jump and read Randy’s impressions on MotorTrend.com.

Video: Porsche 911 GT3 RS driven at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca