Manthey Supporting Frikadelli Porsche at Kyalami

Manthey Racing has a presence at this weekend’s Kyalami 9 Hours, supporting Frikadelli Racing in running one of four points-nominated Porsche 911 GT3 Rs.

Klaus Abbelen’s Frikadelli team, which is based near the Nürburgring, is considering other options for 2020 after deciding to leave the VLN series this year.

It ran a car in a single ADAC GT Masters round in August as part of an exploratory campaign, and is understood to be considering SRO Motorsports Group’s GT3 platforms as well.

This weekend, Frikadelli and Manthey will work together in the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli finale to field a car for Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet and championship contender Dennis Olsen.

The crew is a combination of staff from both teams, running in a similar fashion to how Manthey assisted EBM at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour and GPX Racing in its victorious Total 24 Hours of Spa effort, according to Manthey team manager Bernhard Demmer.

“Frikadelli were interested and they were running the Nürburgring on their home ground, but they were looking into GT Masters this year and they did a Creventic race,” Demmer told Sportscar365.

“They want to change for next year but their structure is pretty focused on Nürburgring racing, which is five minutes from their workshop, similar to us.

“They said if they wanted to go international, they needed support. Together with Porsche, because we also had the capacities to do this race, we decided to do this race together with Frikadelli.

“We are using a Frikadelli car, we use some of the people, but to really establish an international level for IGTC operation, we’re supporting them. Engineering, some of the mechanics and some of the equipment is coming from us.”

Abbelen himself isn’t present at Kyalami this weekend, due to personal reasons.

Demmer says it’s not certain if Manthey would continue to support Frikadelli next year, depending on what plans the team makes, whether in SRO, Creventic or GT Masters competition.

“Manthey is in a special situation because we are closely linked to Porsche so we are supporting various Porsche teams,” explained Demmer.

“We already did it in Bathurst, Suzuka, Spa. A lot of inside people saw that there was some support from Manthey as well.

“We did EBM at Bathurst, GPX at Spa. It depends a little on what they need, how strong the team is in different areas.”

This weekend, Frikadelli and Manthey’s goal is to help Porsche to win the manufacturers’ title but also push for Olsen to pick up the drivers’ championship. The Dane is ten points behind leader Maxi Buhk.

“From our personal perspective, we are one of the four Porsches that wants to go for the championship and their goal is to secure the manufacturers’ championship,” Demmer said.

“We have one of the drivers in our car, Dennis Olsen. If we can, with the best possible result, we can try to make him the championship.

“This is our goal specifically for Frikadelli, but in general, to help Porsche try to win everything they can.”