6A new real-time capable heat release rate model is presented that captures the high dilution effects 7 of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The model is a Mixing Controlled Combustion type with 8 enhancements to account for wall impingements, pilot injections, charge dilution caused by EGR at 9 part load. The model was parameterised in two steps using a small set of measured data: the majority 10 of model parameters were identified without EGR before identifying additional EGR related constants. 11The model performance was assessed based on key metrics: start of combustion; peak heat release 12 and point of peak heat release and cylinder pressure. The model was evaluated over the full engine 13 speed, load and EGR operating envelope and cylinder pressure metrics were predicted with R 2 values 14 above 0.94. With EGR, the model was able to predict qualitatively and quantitively the performance 15 whilst being parameterised by only by a small dataset. The model can be used to enable the 16 engineering of robust new control algorithms and controller hardware for future engines using offline 17 processes. 18