Porsche has revealed that it has chosen Manthey to run a pair of 911 GT3 R 992s in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season in the new LMGT3 category.
The German marque says it selected Manthey, its German subsidiary, due to its previous successes competing in the WEC’s now-defunct GTE Pro class, which included three Le Mans class wins.
The Meuspath, Germany-based team, which was founded in 1996, also has seven overall Nürburgring 24 Hours victories to its name and currently competes with it in DTM. Since 2013, Porsche AG has also held a 51 percent share in the Manthey organization.
“We had huge interest from potential, strong operational teams. The decision wasn’t easy,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president of Porsche Motorsport. “However, since the grid spots are limited, we had to make this decision. Our choice fell on Manthey for a number of reasons.
“Besides the fact that it is a subsidiary, several other factors speak in favor of Manthey: The team is very familiar with the Porsche 911 GT3 R from DTM races and major endurance classics, among others.
“Moreover, Manthey is closely acquainted with the special characteristics of the FIA WEC thanks to many years of factory racing with the Porsche 911 RSR. Last but not least, Porsche’s successful history with the team is an important factor.
“Together with Manthey, we’ve won the world championship and clinched three class victories at Le Mans. We’re confident that we’ll be strongly represented in the new LMGT3 class next year.”
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Because the number of teams competing in Hypercar is set to grow significantly next season, the FIA WEC has limited the number of grid slots for each participating manufacturer to two. This will ensure the class is diverse.
With the new GT3-based class set to be oversubscribed, priority is being handed to manufacturers, like Porsche, which also competes in Hypercar. Each manufacturer granted spaces on the grid has also been handed the responsibility of selecting a team to run its program.
In addition to Porsche formally revealing that it has selected Manthey, Ford has signed up current Porsche Hypercar and GTP team Proton Competition and Corvette has struck a deal with longstanding Aston Martin customer TF Sport.
“The small number of allocated grid positions in the new LMGT3 field of the WEC doesn’t quite do justice to Porsche Motorsport’s broad-based approach to customer racing, unfortunately,” conceded Michael Dreiser, director of sales at Porsche Motorsport. “This year we have five to eight customer Porsches in the GT category alone. In addition, there are two 963 racers in the Hypercar class. We hope that the LMGT3 category will evolve well from 2024 and that we may be able to compete with more customer teams in the future.”
Manthey will reveal its LMGT3 team name and drivers at a later date.
“I’m proud that we can return to the FIA WEC Endurance Championship as an operational team and thus expand our GT3 program next year,” said Nicolas Raeder, managing director Manthey Racing GmbH. “We’ve already notched up successes in the WEC with Porsche and have a lot of experience and know-how regarding the tracks and procedures. The 2024 season will be exciting and I’m particularly pleased that we’ll be back at Le Mans.”