News

Early incident for Manthey EMA at the 6 Hours of Imola limits the opportunity for a strong result

• Due to a collision at the start, the Manthey EMA 911 GT3 R finishes the race in 16th place
• The #92 sister car of Manthey PureRxcing finished in third place, securing a second podium finish in a row
• Manthey PureRxcing continues to lead the LMGT3 standings

The Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by Manthey EMA and Manthey PureRxcing finished the FIA WEC Six Hours of Imola in third (#92) and 16th (#91). Klaus Bachler (Austria), Alex Malykhin (Great Britain) and Joel Sturm (Germany) secured their second podium finish of the season, further extending their lead in the LMGT3 class. Car #91 with Richard Lietz (Austria), Morris Schuring (Netherlands) and Yasser Shahin (Australia) saw the chequered flag in 16th place following a collision at the start.

After a successful Hyperpole the day before, the Manthey PureRxcing and Manthey EMA Porsche started the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Italian Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, from pole position and seventh place. Starting from the front of the LMGT3 field, Alex Malykhin in the #92 survived the turbulent start phase of the six-hour race unscathed. However, the sister #91 car, driven by Yasser Shahin, was involved in a collision before the first turn, which resulted in considerable damage to the front of the car. As a result, the 911 GT3 R had to head for the pits for 30 minutes of repairs, rejoining at the back of the field.

The #92 driver trio spent the first half of the race in the lead, while the sister car, in 16th place, steadily reduced its gap to the rest of the field. It was only when the rain set in, and a switch to wet tyres was made, that Klaus Bachler had to relinquish the lead just under two hours before the end of the race. With track conditions drying out again towards the end of the race, the Austrian was unable to match the pace of the lead pair on slick tyres, and crossed the finish line in Imola to claim a spot on the podium once again. The Manthey EMA driver trio of Lietz, Schuring and Shahin took the chequered flag in 16th place, but showed a faultless performance and good pace throughout the race.

As a result, Manthey PureRxcing with Malykhin, Sturm and Bachler further extended their lead in the LMGT3 Team and Drivers' standings. The team will travel to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium for the third race of the season with a 17-point lead.

"An exciting six hour race at Imola. Both driver trios and our entire crew did a great job here. Of course, it's a great shame that the #91 had the accident at the start. The car was in the pits for a long time as a result, but returned to the track to gain important kilometres and valuable experience. The Manthey EMA driver line-up showed that they can run at the front in terms of pace. The number 92 car led the race for long periods. When the rain started and got heavier, we had to decide whether to take the risk of continuing on slicks. We opted for the safer strategy and switched to wets. As a result, we were slower than the cars on slicks at the end of the race and finished third. Of course you hope for more when you start from pole position, but we are satisfied with this decision in terms of securing the championship lead.”, summarised Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH

The next race in the FIA WEC Endurance Championship will be the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 11 May in Belgium.

Quotes on the 6 Hours of Imola:

Richard Lietz, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: “It was a very chaotic start to the race, and the situation needs to be looked at again in order to avoid something like this in the future. After the collision and the repair, the car was very good to drive - so our crew repaired the damage very well. Even though we were similarly good in terms of balance and pace as in practice, this unfortunately no longer played a role in the race result.”

Morris Schuring, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: “We had an incident on the first lap, which unfortunately ended the battle for a good position rather quickly. This is tough, especially when you consider that Yasser's pace was amazing after that, so it could have been a really good race. I'm also really happy with my stint - I think I did a good job in both the wet and the dry. It just goes to show that there's a lot of potential for our car, and for the next few races. Now we just have to put all the pieces together and look forward to Spa to get some points on the table. And of course a big congratulations to the Manthey PureRxcing car for a great race.”

Yasser Shahin, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91: “The start was very chaotic. The starting speed was very high and the overall conditions with the Hypercar field in front were very unpredictable. By the time I realised what was happening, it was too late to avoid a collision. It was really unfortunate because we showed a lot of promise, and I think the car and drivers had good pace but, unfortunately, we spent 30 minutes fixing the car. Today wasn't our day, but I think we learnt a lot of valuable lessons.”