MANTHEY-EMA WINS Le MANS LMGT3 CLASS DEBUT
Le Mans, who are level on points. Manthey EMA triumphs in its class with the No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe. The victorious driver trio at the debut of the new LMGT3 class of the FIA WEC Endurance Championship consisted of Richard Lietz (Austria), Morris Schuring (Netherlands) and Yasser Shahin (Australia). In the meantime, the sister car of Manthey PureRxcing (No. 92) with Klaus Bachler (Austria), Alex Malykhin (Great Britain) and Joel Sturm (Germany) was in the lead for a long time in changeable weather conditions. Due to problems with the gears and a resulting repair, the trio saw the chequered flag in fourteenth place. In the LMGT3 classification, Manthey EMA now leads on equal points with second-placed Manthey PureRxcing Crew.
The two Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey EMA and Manthey PureRxcing started the endurance classic at Le Mans on Saturday afternoon at 16:00 hrs from positions 16 and second in front of a record crowd of 329,000 spectators. In the first three hours on the 13.626-kilometre Circuit de la Sarthe, the No. 91 car steadily worked its way forward, allowing Morris Schuring, who was the fastest driver in the LMGT3 field for the first time, to take the lead for the first time on Saturday evening. Just two hours later, Joel Sturm in the Manthey PureRxcing nine-eleven did the same, meaning that both cars already held the class lead in just over five hours of racing.
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After a long safety car phase due to heavy rain, Klaus Bachler in the nine-eleven of Manthey PureRxcing, with a little less than eight hours on the clock, led the class ahead of the sister car. However, after the field reeled off their laps at race speed again, Bachler had to head for the pits due to problems with the gearshift. A defective gearshift actuator made a 24-minute repair necessary. Five laps behind, the car resumed the race in 18th place, while the sister car was able to take the lead and defend it. The race at the top of the LMGT3 class developed into a duel between the Manthey EMA Porsche and the WRT-BMW with starting number 31 towards the end. Final driver Richard Lietz was able to build up a lead over the BMW despite difficult conditions in the wet and crossed the finish line first in class after 281 laps. Final driver Klaus Bachler was able to work his way up to 14th place with the No. 92 car until the end. This means that Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin are victorious in their first Le Mans appearance, for Austrian Lietz this is the fifth Le Mans victory.
“This is the fifth time we’ve won Le Mans and the fourth time Martin and I have been there. Of course, it is a special event that cannot be forced. To participate here with Porsche and then to be able to compete for victory is something very special, and then to achieve victory – that’s a dream, of course. To be able to use a car here at all was a dream of Martin and me for a long time. Unfortunately, the 92 dropped back with a technical defect, which is of course a shame because the car certainly had a good chance of competing for the victory. The victory with the No. 91 car was hard-fought and a great team performance – everyone gave everything and everything came together. That’s how we made it possible to get the win. “, sums up Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH.