Feller: Sebring Win Just the Start of Grello’s U.S. Success

Ricardo Feller says he’s convinced Manthey’s GTD Pro victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring “won’t be the last” for the team in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as the ‘Grello’-liveried car won in only its second outing in the series.

The No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo shared by Feller, Thomas Preining and Klaus Bachler led home a 1-2 in class for the Weissach brand ahead of the No. 77 AO Racing entry piloted by Nick Tandy, Harry King and Alessio Picariello.

It marked Manthey’s first win on U.S. soil, after the team opted to bring over the ‘iconic’ Grello colors made famous by its success in the Nürburgring 24 over the past two decades for its assault on this year’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup.

“It makes me very, very proud,” said Feller. “[Grello] is something special within all the Porsche cars. Every Porsche driver wants to drive it.

“Of course, if you win a race with it, it’s already great. Now this is the beginning of a new chapter for the Grello in the U.S.

“That’s the first victory. I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last one.”

Manthey’s success at Sebring followed a tough start to its Michelin Endurance Cup campaign in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, where the No. 911 car finished fifth after losing out to its competitors in the closing stages on pure pace.

“It’s very important,” added Feller. “In the end we all come here to win. Daytona was not very on our side, especially in the end. Now I’m very happy that it turned out because there’s a lot of work behind the scenes.

“It’s not so easy for a German team to get all the people here, to get all the equipment here, to compete against teams that know the structure in IMSA, which is kind of very different to what we’re used in Europe.

“It’s not so easy to compete against them. I think the team did a great job with that.”

The decisive move of the race came at the restart with around 90 minutes left on the clock, as Preining passed King in the AO Porsche of King for the class lead and then held on to the advantage after the final two full-course yellow periods.

Preining recalled: “I knew we had a fuel or energy disadvantage, so I had to go all in. Every lap was a quali lap until the last pit stop.

“I think the safety car would have been quite painful then, but in the end everything happened in the right way for us at the end. We were able to play our cards really well.

“We needed a quick car, which we had. In the end, like I said, everything went perfectly.”

Bachler meanwhile expressed his delight at recording a third 12H Sebring win in GTD Pro in the space of four years, having been part of last year’s class-winning lineup for AO as well as the Pfaff Motorsports lineup that won the race in 2023.

“Both of my teammates drove really brilliant, zero mistakes,” he said. “In the end Thomas went for the move. He took the lead with one and a half hours to go and stayed there.

“It was not easy to watch because, especially the last safety car when it came, you never know what is happening at the restart. I have enough IMSA experience that everything is possible.

“But luckily, he did again a great restart and he could win this race. Very proud of the whole team, of my teammates.”

Victory at Sebring leaves Bachler, Feller and Preining tied at the top of the full-season GTD Pro points standings with Paul Miller Racing BMW drivers Connor De Phillippi, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen, who finished fifth on Saturday.

However, asked if this could prompt Manthey to consider tackling the next GTD Pro race at Laguna Seca, Bachler replied: “We need to speak after this! But I don’t think so.”

Both Manthey entries were announced for Endurance Cup-only programs this year.