Manthey claims 2024 FIA WEC LMGT3 Championship

Debut season a success

With a fifth-place finish at the WEC season finale in Bahrain, Manthey EMA secured a one-two victory in the 2024 LMGT3 championship for Manthey. Unfavorable Safety Car periods cost both Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R the chance of a podium finish. The driver line-up of Klaus Bachler (Austria), Alex Malykhin (Great Britain) and Joel Sturm (Germany), who had already been crowned champions at Fuji, finished the race in ninth place. Richard Lietz (Austria), Morris Schuring (Netherlands) and Yasser Shahin (Australia) defended their second place in the LMGT3 classification until the checkered flag. Manthey reflects on a successful debut season in the newly introduced LMGT3 class.

2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, October 30th – November 2nd 2024, Photo: Nick Dungan / Drew Gibson Photography

Manthey EMA

Manthey EMA and Manthey PureRxcing drivers Yasser Shahin (#91) and Alex Malykhin (#92) started the eight-hour season finale at the Bahrain International Circuit from 14th to fifth, respectively. The race was scored on one and a half times the points (rounded up). With air and track temperatures of 33 and 42 degrees, the race started at 14:00 local time in very demanding conditions for drivers and tires. However, this did not prevent Yasser Shahin from making a strong charge through the LMGT3 field. The driver of car number 91 began to work his way up the field on the very first lap and maintained this momentum until the end of his triple stint after 72 laps. The Australian handed over the Porsche 911 GT3 R in fifth place to Richard Lietz, who moved the car up to second at the halfway point and put it on course for a podium finish.

2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, October 30th – November 2nd 2024, Photo: Michele Scudiero / Drew Gibson Photography

Manthey PureRxcing

The Manthey PureRxcing sister car followed a slightly different strategy, with Sturm going in already after one stint. The German pitted in third place after 47 laps to swap places with bronze driver Malykhin. The latter handed the wheel back to Joel Sturm just 25 minutes before the halfway point of the race, who finished the four-hour race in fifth place. As the race moved into its fifth hour, the number 92 car moved up, leaving both cars in third (#91) and fourth (#92) place when they completed their final driver changes at around 19:20 local time. Shortly afterward, however, a burning car brought out a 20-minute safety car period, which allowed the field to tighten up again, giving an advantage to the cars pitted during that period. The final two hours of the race remained chaotic, with another Safety Car and Full Course Yellow periods resulting in close battles for position in the LMGT3 field. Morris Schuring fought his way back from eighth to fifth place at the checkered flag to take second place in the FIA WEC LMGT3 standings.

2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, October 30th – November 2nd 2024, Photo: Drew Gibson

Klaus Bachler was held back by unfavorable safety car periods and a drive-through penalty for braking too late during a full course yellow, and ultimately finished the race in ninth place. With this result, Manthey finished the FIA World Endurance Championship with a double victory in the LMGT3 Championship, held for the first time in 2024. After the eight-hour race, Manthey PureRxcing had accumulated a total of 139 championship points, while Manthey EMA secured second place in the drivers’ and teams’ championships with 105 points.

“I am extremely proud of the last two years. We managed to win the DTM in 2023 and now finish the new LMGT3 class in the WEC as double world champions and Le Mans winners, after the end of the GTE class in the WEC. This is something very special and I am very proud of our entire team and drivers. It is great to see that our hard work in this environment over the last few years is paying off,” said Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH.

Quotes on the Eight Hours of Bahrain:

Richard Lietz, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91:

“As expected, it was a very exciting race, especially in the last two hours when the field was thrown into confusion by the safety car phases. This situation had a negative impact on us – nevertheless, we were able to secure second place in the championship for Manthey and with P1, P2 and a victory at Le Mans, you can’t achieve much more. Congratulations to the whole team.”

Morris Schuring, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91:

“A good end to a race that could have been fatal for us with the restarts after the safety car. It would have been even better to finish the race after eight hours on green, but as it was it was a great battle and I had a lot of fun. In the end it’s a 1-2 win for Manthey in the championship and I’m really happy for the whole team.”

Yasser Shahin, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91:

“Firstly, I’m absolutely thrilled for us to have finished ahead of our competition to the point where we’ve now secured second place in the championship. I think endurance racing is a different level, a different standard of sport and it is incredibly demanding for everyone in the team. All the drivers drove their hearts out today, we all did fantastic stints. It was really a lesson in tire management and pace, and I felt great about how everyone performed. Everyone is going home with a big smile, having delivered second place in a championship that is a rookie year for at least two of its drivers – it’s really incredible.”

Klaus Bachler, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92:

“Today’s result was obviously not so great for us, it was a chaotic race towards the end and I also got a drive-through penalty because I was a bit too fast during a full course yellow phase. Nevertheless, the season has been a dream – winning the championship early at Fuji is obviously a huge success for us and I’m very happy about it. A big thank you to the whole team for their work throughout the year. They have always given their all, we have always had a perfectly prepared car and, with the exception of Le Mans, never had any technical problems. Now we can enjoy it and celebrate a bit.”

Alex Malykhin, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92:

“I feel like we made a real effort to win this race and everything looked good until a very unfortunate safety car. It was unlucky because we concentrated on saving our tires and were in a good position, and then the rest of the field benefited from the pit stop during the safety car. With the success ballast, Klaus had no realistic chance of fighting his way back up the field. But we still scored points in every race, which is a good feeling and so there is no room for disappointment.”

Joel Sturm, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92:

“The season is over, the team has achieved first and second place in the championship. 91 came second and we are LMGT3 world champions. I think the whole team is extremely happy, you could see that from everyone’s reactions earlier. I think it’s been a great year for everyone, which definitely involved a lot of hard work, but in the end it was worth it and our results are impressive: We achieved six podium finishes in eight races, and the sister car won Le Mans. I think we can be very satisfied.”