Porsche Team Manthey Wins GTE-Pro, Lietz Takes Title

Photo: Porsche

Porsche has won the GT Manufacturers’ Cup, with Richard Lietz also taking the drivers’ title, following a dominant race-winning run in GTE-Pro for Porsche Team Manthey in Saturday’s  FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain.

Fred Makowiecki took the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR to 39.316-second victory over the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Toni Vilander, in a race that went the way of the German manufacturer nearly from the start.

The No. 92 Porsche took over the lead early in the opening hour, with Patrick Pilet getting around Vilander’s pole-sitting Ferrari and extending its lead over the pair of Prancing Horses.

However, an unscheduled stop in the fourth hour for a loose wheel saw Davide Rigon’s No. 71 Ferrari drop from third to sixth, which was enough for Porsche to claim the manufacturers’ title.

Lietz and co-driver Michael Christensen drove a conservative race to finish fifth in class, but it was enough for the Austrian to take the world title.

It gave Porsche all three GT championships, including the teams’ title for Porsche Team Manthey in what is understood to be the final year for the works-based program in GTE-Pro.

The No. 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Darren Turner and Jonny Adam completed the GTE-Pro podium in third, ahead of the all-Danish No. 95 Aston, with both of the cars having showed improved form.

AMR’s Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda took the win in GTE-Am, with SMP Racing being crowned as class champions.

Lauda edged out the No. 88 Abi Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche of Klaus Bachler for their third class win of the season and first since Spa in May.

The No. 77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche of Patrick Long, Marco Seefried and Christian Ried completed the podium in third.

SMP’s Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov, meanwhile, were crowned GTE-Am champions with a fifth place finish in their Ferrari.

RESULTS: Six Hours of Bahrain

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