Manthey Racing GmbH is a German auto racing team established in 1996 by former race car driver Olaf Manthey. Manthey Racing is currently competing in the Nürburgring Endurance Series, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, and the GT2 European Series, and is also responsible for Porsche's factory efforts in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Working with Porsche sports cars for most of their history, the team has been strongly linked with the German manufacturer, being purchased by Porsche for a 51% majority stake in 2013, and later becoming a full motorsport partner in 2021.[1][2]
Manthey Racing's Porsche 911 (993) driven by Oliver Mathai in the Porsche Supercup.
The team first raced in the Porsche Supercup in 1996, finishing 4th in the teams' standings with 158 points.[4] The next four seasons between 1997 and 2000 saw four consecutive teams' and drivers' championships for Manthey Racing and their Dutch driver Patrick Huisman.[5] Manthey would later take part in their first VLN event in 1998, where the team won the race outright with a Porsche 911 GT2 after 3 hours and 25 minutes of racing.[6] In the following year, Manthey Racing competed in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking part in the annual endurance race for the first time, entering with a Porsche 911 (996) GT3-R. The team won on their first attempt in the LMGT class with Huisman, Uwe Alzen, and Luca Riccitelli.
On 1 April 2000, Manthey Racing moved to their current location in the municipality of Meuspath.[3] The team would expand the site in 2006.
That same year, Manthey, along with Australian racing team EMA Motorsport in a collaborative effort, also saw their first appearance in the Bathurst 12 Hour, participating with a Porsche 991.2 GT3 R as car #912 and Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet, and Preining as their driver lineup. The team scored a 2nd-place finish overall on their first attempt, less than a second behind the overall race winners SunEnergy1 Racing. On their second attempt, they won the 2024 edition of the Bathurst endurance race outright with their #912 entry and drivers Campbell, Ayhancan Güven, and Laurens Vanthoor.[8][9] Manthey also ran a second #911 entry in the Pro-Am class with Yasser Shahin, Alessio Picariello, and Harry King, in which they also won.[10]
24 Hours of Nürburgring
Manthey Racing has been a regular participant in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance event since 2006, the 2012 edition their only absence as Olaf Manthey decided to enter the International GT Open instead.
The team entered the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2006, with additional factory driver support from Porsche, running a 996-generation 911 GT3.[11]Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard, Mike Rockenfeller, and Marcel Tiemann took victory for Manthey Racing in the event, and due to favorable conditions and stiff competition from rival cars, also achieved what was then a new overall distance record (3,832 km (2,381 mi) in 151 laps). The team would compete once again in 2007, this time with Porsche's latest offering at the time, the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, with drivers Bernhard, Tiemann, Marc Lieb, and Romain Dumas behind the wheel. Manthey Racing would take the win, after the leading Aston Martin DBRS9 had experienced an engine failure, and the sister 911 GT3 RSR entry from Land Motorsport had received damage from contact with the Manthey car during the race.[12]
Manthey Racing entered the 2008 edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours with five participating teams. Despite early drama for the team's #1 car, losing time with a leaky radiator and a tire failure, they were able to recover and eventually take the overall victory for the third year in a row, the car driven by Bernhard, Tiemann, Lieb, and Dumas.[13] Manthey also scored an overall 1-2 finish in the race with their #23 Porsche 996 GT3 that previously won in 2006 finishing 2nd, with drivers Pierre Kaffer, Armin Hahne, Christian Haarmann, and Jochen Krumbach. The team's #26, #25, and #27 entries would finish 5th, 8th, and 12th respectively. The 2009 24 Hours of Nürburgring saw another victory for Manthey Racing with the #1 car, as well as a podium in the SP9 class with the #2 car.[14]
The 2010 24 Hours of Nürburgring saw Manthey Racing return to a five-team effort. Manthey's #9 entry debuted the flywheel hybrid-powered Porsche 997 GT3 R Hybrid sports car in the E1-XP class, and it would start strong, battling for the lead in the first stages of the race, though they would lose time after the car would suffer a puncture. Despite regaining the lead, however, the team would be forced to retire the car at the 22nd hour. At the end of the event, only one Manthey car crossed the line, the #88 car finishing 10th in the SP9 GT3 class.[15]
The 2011 race saw the team return to winning form, with the #18 car driven by Bernhard, Dumas, Lieb, and Lucas Luhr taking the overall win.[16] The returning hybrid-powered 997 GT3 R also won the E1-XP class.
Manthey returned to the 2013 24 Hours of Nürburgring after being absent in the 2012 event, winning the SP7 class, finishing 7th overall with Bernhard, Dumas, Lieb, and Luhr.[17]
For 2014, Manthey expanded back to four entries for the 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Their #40 entry scored a podium finish in the SP7 class, finishing 16th overall. Two of their cars would unfortunately retire from the event, and the #12 entry finished 15th in the SP9 GT3 class. In 2016, Manthey won the SP-X class in the 2016 24 Hours of Nürburgring with a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.[18] In 2021, Manthey took the overall victory at the 2021 24 Hours of Nürburgring after just nine hours of racing.[19] Manthey would secure another podium finish in 2024, taking home 2nd at the 2024 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
World Endurance Championship
In 2013, Manthey Racing worked with Porsche to help enter and represent the German manufacturer in the LM GTE Pro class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.[20] The team entered two cars for the 2013 season with the newly-unveiled Porsche 911 RSR, and Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Pilet, Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz, and Romain Dumas were selected for the driving lineups. Porsche and Manthey scored six podiums throughout the season, including a 1-2 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They would finish 3rd and 4th in the LM GTE Pro teams' standings. At the end of the year, Porsche worked with team owner Olaf Manthey on an agreement, in which Porsche bought a majority stake in Manthey Racing, taking a 51% share in the company.[2]
For the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche and Manthey would finish 2nd and 4th with their #92 and #91 entries respectively, taking two wins and eight podiums, including a 3rd place finish in the LM GTE Pro class at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.[21] They would retain some of the driver lineup for that season from the previous year, but would replace Bernhard, Dumas, and Lieb with Frédéric Makowiecki, Nick Tandy, and Marco Holzer, as the former three would drive for Porsche's Le Mans Prototype team.
Building on their progress in the FIA World Endurance Championship the following year, Porsche and Manthey were able to secure the FIA Endurance Trophy for the LM GTE Pro class in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. Team driver Richard Lietz also won the LM GTE drivers' championship that year, known as the 'World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers'.[22] From 2016 to 2023, the Manthey name was removed from the entry lists, though the team continued to help support Porsche's GTE efforts.
For the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, Manthey Racing was selected once again by Porsche to help operate its LMGT3 team.[23][24] The team's name returned to the entry lists that season and participated with cars #91 with EMA Motorsport driven by Lietz, Shahin, and Morris Schuring, and #92 with PureRxcing driven by Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin, and Joel Sturm. Over the course of the season, both entries took home two wins each, including a class win at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans with the #91 car.[25] With a round to spare, the #92 car clinched the drivers' and teams' championships for Manthey at the 2024 6 Hours of Fuji,[26] and the #91 car's 5th-place finish in the following race at the 2024 8 Hours of Bahrain secured the team and Porsche a 1-2 in the LMGT3 teams' standings.
^Manthey Racing #911 was disqualified after the car was found to have exceeded the 494 hp limit stipulated in the Balance of Performance. The car finished second prior to the disqualification.[30]
^Porsche withdrew the Manthey Racing team from the event following that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Manthey team ran the Porsche entry there and following concerns over COVID-19 Porsche decided not to enter. A number of drivers for other teams were affected as Porsche withdrew all members who were at Le Mans.[31]
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