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Two podium finishes for Manthey EMA at the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers

• Second and third place for Manthey EMA at the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers
• Last race on the Nordschleife before the 24-hour classic in the Eifel, passes without any incidents for Manthey EMA
• Each of the drives for the 24-hour event - Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preining - have now contested two races at the ‘Green Hell’

With a second and a third place, Manthey EMA can look back on two successful four-hour races at the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers. Thomas Preining (Austria) and Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) collected valuable race kilometres in consistently dry conditions, during the day and night, in preparation for the endurance season highlight at the ‘Green Hell‘, on 1 June 2024.

With a strong field of 130 cars, Saturday's race started at 17:30, and continued into the night. The #911 ‘Grello‘ Porsche 911 GT3 R started from eighth position. Thomas Preining worked his way up to fourth during the first hour of the race, before handing over to Ayhancan Güven halfway through the race, who was making his race debut for Manthey EMA on the Nordschleife. After four hours, the Turkish driver crossed the finish line in third place. A 32-second post-race penalty imposed on the second-placed car then promoted the #911 to second place.

In Sunday's top qualifying session, where the SP9 and SPX teams battled it out for the best grid positions in the individual time sessions, Thomas put the #911 seventh on the grid. Ayhancan started the race, and worked his way up to fourth on the very first lap of the race, before handing over to his team-mate after two hours. After eight more laps, Ayhancan took over in fourth for the last 40 minutes, and was able to gain a further position. With a third place finish, this means that the team has now scored a podium across all four races on the Nordschleife so far this season.

"With four races in eight days, we probably had the most compact preparation for the 24-hour race in recent years. We finished on the podium twice again this weekend, and are very happy with that. After driving with Kévin and Laurens last weekend, this time our two DTM drivers, Ayhancan and Thomas, were at the wheel. The main focus was to prepare both for all possible scenarios. This worked very well, and both drivers performed excellently in the races," said Patrick Arkenau, Division Manager Racing at Manthey Racing GmbH.

"From a technical perspective, we are also very satisfied with where we currently stand in our preparations for the highlight of the season. Of course, it remains to be seen how the balance of performance will be, between the teams, in the 24-Hours, but we are really looking forward to the event, and feel well prepared," added Arkenau.

The next race, and also the highlight of the season on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife for Manthey EMA, is the 24-hour race, 30 May-2 June 2024. On the remaining six weekends until the endurance classic, Manthey EMA has a pair of six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship races, in Imola and Spa-Franchorchamps, along with two DTM events, in Oschersleben and at the Lausitzring, on the season schedule.

Quotes on the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers:

Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911: "That was a very good weekend at the Nürburgring, with the double podium for us. We made a big step forward, especially on Sunday, and I personally felt more and more comfortable on the second day. With second and third places this weekend, and the successes of Laurens and Kévin last weekend, we have already achieved four podium finishes. Now we will analyse the races in detail over the next six weeks, in order to be even stronger at the start of the 24-hour race."

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911: "It was a successful weekend for us with two podium finishes. We were also able to tick off a lot of test points for the 24-hour race, and Ayhancan and I were able to gain a lot of driving time. That's always important, especially in traffic on the Nordschleife. The anticipation for the 24-hour race is getting bigger and bigger. There were already a lot of fans at the track this weekend, and I'm always happy about the great support."