Manthey-Porsche experienced a real rollercoaster of emotions at the six-hour WEC race in Spa-Francorchamps. A serious accident in qualifying was followed by a double victory in the LMGT3 class after a thrilling final finish. The #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R (Shahin, Schuring, Lietz) crossed the finish line after an overtaking maneuver on the last lap with a lead of 1.2 seconds over the #92 sister 911 (Malykhin, Sturm, Bachler).
“All of our team members have achieved heroic achievements, and that makes me very proud,” said Manthey managing director Nicolas Raeder in an interview Motorsport-Magazin.com in his usual, rather reserved manner. “Even Olaf (Manthey) was speechless. That means he’s really proud.”
Manthey double victory at WEC race in Spa
There was trembling until the final minutes at different levels at the Manthey command post. At first there were signs that the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini (Schiavoni, Cressoni, Perera) would win the class, until final driver Franck Perera had to go to the pit lane for a fuel stop on the last lap and ended up in third place behind the Porsche duo .
It was also important to correctly calculate the conditions in the race, which was extended by 1:44 hours. Especially because the two Manthey Porsches used different strategies. Right from the start, the #92 relied on fuel-saving tactics, which enabled Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Porsche works driver Klaus Bachler to finish the race with six pit stops instead of the usual seven.
“With the #92 we saved fuel right from the start,” confirmed Patrick Arkenau, Head of the Racing Division at Manthey Racing GmbH MSM. “After the first stops of the competition, it became clear to us relatively quickly that only one other car was following the same strategy, and that was the #60 (Iron-Lynx-Lamborghini).”
Manthey explains lead change on the last lap
Things got exciting on the last lap (lap 130) when the #91 Porsche with final driver Richard Lietz – the fastest GT3 driver in the race – passed Bachler in the sister car and took first place The trio won the WEC. Arkenau explained the situation: “We didn’t swap positions. Because Klaus (Bachler) had to save a lot of fuel and Richard (Lietz) didn’t at all because of the offset strategy, they had a different pace. It wouldn’t have been right to have the #91 artificially behind it.”
Although there are rules of the game between the two Manthey Porsches, according to Arkenau, a ban on overtaking would almost amount to a distortion of competition given the pace difference of around three seconds. Raeder saw it the same way: “It would have been the stable order the other way around. We would have had to say that one (#91) was not allowed to overtake. And if the other (#92) had accelerated, he would have run out of fuel.”
Bachler from the #92 crew was able to live well with second place, with his points allowing the trio to further expand their lead in the world championship and travel to the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 15-16, 2024) as the clear front runner : “We didn’t lose the victory. We risked driving with one less stop. In the end I had to save a lot of fuel. It was a very close call, otherwise we would have finished fourth or fifth. Thanks to the strategy, we won second place.”
From a serious accident to a double victory in Spa
It was initially unclear that Manthey would even take part in the race with his two Porsche 911s after bronze driver Alexander Malykhin’s serious qualifying crash. A spare parts carrier was quickly ordered to Spa from Meuspath, 120 kilometers away, to rebuild the destroyed Neunelfer overnight. At seven o’clock in the morning on race Saturday, the car was screwed together and ready to undergo another scrutineering (technical inspection). Arkenau: “The car was there exactly as we had imagined.”
Crash pilot Malykhin escaped with a few minor injuries and, after a visit to the medical center, was cleared by doctors to take part in the race. The native of Belarus was able to shake off the accident from the day before. “That was a top performance from Alex,” said Raeder. “You have to get that in your head first, after all he is a bronze driver.”
With the double victory and the championship lead under their belt, Manthey and Co. will be heading to the prestigious race at Le Mans in just under four weeks. Raeder thought it was time for a Porsche class victory again: “We hope that everything works out and we can drive along. With our drivers we don’t have to hide and the car is robust. If we don’t screw up, we should actually what’s going on.”