Manthey: Grello Colors a “Promise” of Competitiveness

Manthey has described its entry into the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup with the iconic ‘Grello’ design as a “promise” to be competitive on on its U.S. racing debut.

The long-time Porsche outfit, known for its success in the FIA World Endurance Championship, DTM and at the Nürburgring, is commencing its five-round campaign with a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R Evos in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Its famous ‘Grello’ colors, made famous by Manthey’s successes in the Nürburgring 24 dating back to 2006, adorn the team’s No. 911 entry in the GTD Pro class, driven by Klaus Bachler, Ricardo Feller and Thomas Preining, plus Ayhancan Guven for the Rolex 24.

The team’s GTD entry, meanwhile, is shared by last year’s WEC LMGT3 title-winning trio of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz as well as Manthey WEC alumnus Morris Schuring, who joins Hardwick and Pera for the five-round campaign.

Manthey managing director Nicolas Raeder told Sportscar365 that while commercial considerations are one reason for its U.S. expansion, the team is also aware of the high expectations surrounding the new program given its track record in Europe.

“One reason is we have our street car products, the Manthey kits, and we have to promote these kits in the U.S.,” said Raeder. “Around each race we will visit lots of Porsche dealers to show them the race cars, the engineers and all the kits.

“Also on the sporting side, we wanted to do something different.

“IMSA is a challenge for us and to come with Grello is always a ‘promise’ to the fans to fight for the victory. If we come with Grello, the pressure is always high.

“On the other hand, the success we had last year was so high, and we know it’s not possible to do this every year.

“We are just doing our best as always and we’ll see what happens. Normally if we work well, we tend to be in a good position, and hopefully it will be the case this year.

“The excuse of this being our first time, you won’t hear from us.”

Raeder clarified the team has hired “about four to five” new crew members to assist with its Endurance Cup campaign, with the balance made up by staff drawn from its existing WEC and DTM programs, with almost the entire team based in Europe with the exception of the truck drivers and logistics-focused staff.

“We are operating in a matrix structure, so it’s not the case that one crew does one championship only,” he explained. “We try to mix it up a little bit. We have one-and-a-half crews to do two programs [WEC and DTM].”

Raeder didn’t rule out the possibility of Manthey expanding to a full-season effort in 2027, depending on how its Endurance Cup campaign goes this year, a move that could involve the creation of an American base for the team.

“We don’t have a hub in the U.S., but perhaps in the future we will have one,” he said. “We’ll see how this year goes and we’ll see how we do it in the future.”

He added that the decision to enter two cars from the outset was made because a single-car entry is “not really efficient” considering the logistics.

“With 1st Phorm and Ryan Hardwick we have a good partner to run here,” said Raeder. “We expect the No. 912 to be competitive as well, we had great success in the WEC together, and he [Hardwick] is from the U.S., which always helps.”

Bachler, who moves across to Manthey from fellow Porsche team AO Racing, told Sportscar365 he has no doubts that the German outfit  has the potential to be as successful in IMSA as it has been in the other championships in which it participates.

“I wouldn’t say there’s so much pressure, more just excited to be here and to race in this championship and this special race,” he said.

“For sure the rules and the principles are different in IMSA, but the team is so strong and everyone has prepared for this.

“There are many team members who have experience of IMSA from previous years, and I know Manthey have prepared very well for every new championship they have started. 

“We need to do our homework and hopefully in the end we can fight for the victory and show that Grello can also have success in America.”