Shahin: ‘Everything Went Right’ to End Manthey Winless Streak

Manthey driver Yasser Shahin has described the 6 Hours of Barcelona as a race “where everything goes right” as he and co-drivers Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera put an end to the Porsche squad’s FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 winless streak.

Shahin seized control of the battle for class honors early in his stint after passing polesitter Antares Au, quickly building a significant buffer over his opposition.

Pera and Lietz continued the Australian driver’s good work amid the changing conditions, with Pera finally bringing the No. 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo home with a 4.7-second advantage that didn’t convey the squad’s dominance.

For Pera and Lietz, it was a first win since last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, while Shahin scored his first since the previous year’s Le Mans, having elected to switch to Team WRT and BMW machinery last year before returning to Manthey.

Reflecting on the success Shahin, said: “I’m a big fan of mixed conditions. I like driving in the rain, and the car performs well in the rain, so it all came together quite nicely. It’s one of those moments where everything goes right.

“The preparation was excellent, and when the conditions came, we shrugged it off and did our thing. We expected mixed conditions, and we also tested here which was a big advantage. I was confident going in, and I really enjoyed the drive.”

Shahin also reflected on an up-and-down year for the No. 92 crew, who had scored three podium finishes prior to Barcelona, while also suffering two non-scores in the previous races at the Circuit of The Americas and Fuji.

“We had a fantastic start to the year with three podiums, and Le Mans was a huge let-down,” he said.

“We came in with such a strong car and we were quick and thought we were on for a good result. Unfortunately a car part failure destroyed those hopes and probably the championship with it. After that, we had a couple of upsets as well.

“Nobody in this team ever has a go, makes you feel guilty. We win together and we suffer together. It’s absolutely a tribute to the culture in that team.”

For his part, Lietz — starting his 99th WEC race — was also eager to pay tribute to the work Manthey did to notch up its first victory in more than a year.

“To be honest it was not so easy,” said the Austrian. “There was a lot of [tire] pickup, which was challenging. Definitely it was still drying up, then fully dry and then started to rain again. During the VSC I got another set [of tires] and I could make a bit of a gap.

“It all worked perfectly. We all trust the team on the strategy, it was a great win for Manthey and as Yasser said I am very proud to be part of this team.”

Victory at Barcelona has kept the No. 92 Porsche crew in LMGT3 title contention heading into next month’s Monza finale, 18 points behind the TF Sport Corvette crew that finished seventh after a challenging afternoon.

However, Lietz downplayed the chances of overhauling that margin at a track he believes is not ideally suited to the Porsche.

“We would have loved to have a season finale in Bahrain, or an eight-hour race because you get more points,” he said. “Two six-hour races doesn’t help us.

“Also Monza is not the best track for our car. High degradation is something that fits our balance and set-up better. But we’ll take it step-by-step and then we’ll see.”

On the chances of he and Lietz defending last year’s LMGT3 title, Pera added: “The gap is quite big, but for sure we’ll do our best in Monza. We’ll go for the win for sure.”