A new real-time capable heat release rate model is presented that captures the high dilution effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The model is a Mixing Controlled Combustion type with enhancements to account for wall impingements, pilot injections, charge dilution caused by EGR at part load. The model was parameterised in two steps using a small set of measured data: the majority of model parameters were identified without EGR before identifying additional EGR related constants. The model performance was assessed based on key metrics: start of combustion; peak heat release and point of peak heat release and cylinder pressure. The model was evaluated over the full engine speed, load and EGR operating envelope and cylinder pressure metrics were predicted with R-2 values above 0.94. With EGR, the model was able to predict qualitatively and quantitatively the performance whilst being parameterised by only by a small dataset The model can be used to enable the engineering of robust new control algorithms and controller hardware for future engines using offline processes. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.