Launched for the 2014 model year, the latest 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 has had a rather rough debut on the market, as the Germans had to recall all 785 cars sold in 2013 to replace their engines. The callback came after two GT3s->ke617 suffered engine fires and Stuttgart concluded that the 3.8-liter flat-six units had issues with a loosened screw joint on the piston connecting rod. Now, it's being revealed that the German automaker has issued another recall,->ke5153 this time around for a valvetrain-related problem.

According to Car and Driver, about a dozen sports cars->ke506 are affected by this issue. Four of them are in use as Nurburgring->ke999 taxis on the famous race track, while the rest of them are in customer hands. All examples had their engines replaced with new units, as fixing would have taken too long.

"It is true that in some very rare cases we have had minor issues with the valvetrain," Porsche->ke1 spokesman Thomas Becki said. "To repair these engines would have taken longer than we found acceptable for our GT3 customers, so we replaced the engines and repaired them afterwards."

The repaired engines will be used by Porsche in development testing.

This new recall might explain the GT3 RS test car that was recently spotted on the Nurburgring. Unless Porsche is testing some updates, it's safe to assume the German engineers want to make sure the 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS won't be plagued by similar issues.

Continue reading for the full story.

Why it matters

Although Porsche has received a lot of criticism for screwing up with the new 3.8-liter engine, which apparently isn't as reliable as the previous Mezger racing->ke447 engine, I have to give it credit from handling these problems like a world-class automaker should. Instead of getting the engines out and fixing them while keeping customers from enjoying their GT3s, Stuttgart simply opted to replace the units altogether and return the cars back to their drivers in the shortest time possible.

Of course, this doesn't mean we should be less worried about the increasing number of automotive recalls these days, but it goes to show that Porsche would do just about anything to keep its customers, who pay in excess of $130,000 for a GT3, happy.

Ed's note: I don't think a lot of credit is due for rapidly fix a $130,000 car whose engine might catch fire. Again. But yay, Porsche!

2014 Porsche 911 GT3

Find out more about the Porsche 911 GT3 in our review here.