Porsche Doubles Up With Manthey GTD Pro Win

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Porsche doubled up in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Manthey Racing taking GTD Pro class honors.

Thomas Preining pedaled the iconic ‘Grello’ liveried No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo to a 1.430-second win over the second-placed No. 77 AO Racing Porsche of Harry King, who was entrusted to finish the race in only his second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start.

The Austrian got around King for the class lead moments before the race’s eighth full course caution when the No. 16 Myers Riley Motorsport Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Jenson Altzman suffered a heavy crash in Turn 2.

Preining extended his advantage over King on the restart with 1 hour and 19 minutes to go, and saw both Porsches pit for the final time with less than 55 minutes to go.

A final yellow for the sister No. 912 Manthey Porsche of Riccardo Pera, which briefly stopped on track amid overheating woes, set up a 16-minute run to the checkered flag.

Preining shared top class honors with Klaus Bachler and Ricardo Feller, marking the first victory on U.S. soil for the legendary German squad.

The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg, Nico Varrone and Tommy Milner, in his 20th Twelve Hours of Sebring start, completed the class podium, ahead of the sister No. 3 Corvette brought home by Alexander Sims in forth.

Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which was in podium contention, completed the top-five in class, ahead of the best of the Multimatic-run Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs.

The debuting Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 came home tenth in class, one lap behind, after running a relatively trouble-free race.

GTD saw Antonio Fuoco overcome no fewer than three penalties to claim a dramatic victory in his No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

The Ferrari Hypercar star made a last-lap pass on the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Tom Gamble to take the Italian squad to an unlikely class win.

Fuoco shared top honors with Lilou Wadoux and Simon Mann, rebounding from contact with fellow factory driver Miguel Molina in the GTD Pro class No. 033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari that resulted in a drive-through penalty in the final hour.

It came after two previous penalties for Fuoco, including contact with the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Ben Barker with three hours and 26 minutes to go while in the class lead, and a subquent drive-through for having too many crew over the wall.

The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Adam Adelson, Tom Sargent and Callum Ilott scored an unlikely third place class finish after bouncing back from issues of their own.

Graident Racing’s attempt to stretch the fuel in its No. 66 Mustang, with Joey Hand at the wheel, came up short when Hand lost the lead on the final restart.

He built up a 30-second advantage prior to the final yellow but would have needed upwards of 15 minutes of time behind the safety car for the strategy to play out.

RESULTS: Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John