Manthey Selected as Porsche LMGT3 Team

Photo: Porsche

Manthey has been selected as the team that will run Porsche 911 GT3 Rs in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 category next year, the German manufacturer announced on Thursday.

The team, which is run by brothers Nicki and Martin Raeder and is majority owned by Porsche, will campaign two cars in the world championship with yet-to-be-announced driver lineups.

It was selected over other longtime Porsche WEC operations, such as GR Racing and Team Project 1, which were both known to have been pursuing slots in the new-for-2024 category.

In addition to its success in GT racing around the world under its own banner, Manthey had been the operational team behind Porsche’s factory WEC GTE-Pro effort from 2013-2022 that secured multiple key victories and titles.

“We had huge interest from potential, strong operational teams. The decision wasn’t easy,” said Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach. “However, since the grid spots are limited, we had to make this decision.

“Our choice fell on Manthey for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that it is a subsidiary, several other factors speak in favor of Manthey: The team is very familiar with the Porsche 911 GT3 R from DTM races and major endurance classics, among others.

“Moreover, Manthey is closely acquainted with the special characteristics of the FIA WEC thanks to many years of factory racing with the Porsche 911 RSR.

“Last but not least, Porsche’s successful history with the team is an important factor. Together with Manthey, we’ve won the world championship and clinched three class victories at Le Mans.

“We’re confident that we’ll be strongly represented in the new LMGT3 class next year.”

In addition to its newly committed LMGT3 effort, Manthey’s involvement in DTM will continue next year with its partner EMA, alongside efforts in the Bathurst 12 Hour and Nürburgring 24.

“I’m proud that we can return to the FIA WEC Endurance Championship as an operational team and thus expand our GT3 program next year,” said Nicki Raeder, who serves as the team’s managing director.

“We’ve already notched up successes in the WEC with Porsche and have a lot of experience and know-how regarding the tracks and procedures.

“The 2024 season will be exciting and I’m particularly pleased that we’ll be back at Le Mans.”

Manthey is the third team to have been selected by a GT3 manufacturer for the class next year, joining Proton Competition (Ford) and TF Sport (Corvette), although the WEC has yet to officially confirm entries for the class.

Hypercar class manufacturers, as well as OEMs with previous WEC and/or Le Mans heritage, are understood to be given priority.

The 2024 season will mark Porsche’s lowest-represented GT season in the WEC to date, due to the series’ cap of two cars per manufacturer.

“The small number of allocated grid positions in the new LMGT3 field of the WEC doesn’t quite do justice to Porsche Motorsport’s broad-based approach to customer racing, unfortunately,” said Michael Dreiser, director of sales at Porsche Motorsport.

“This year we have five to eight customer Porsches in the GT category alone.

“In addition, there are two 963 racers in the Hypercar class. We hope that the LMGT3 category will evolve well from 2024 and that we may be able to compete with more customer teams in the future.”

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