Porsche customer team Manthey faced a challenging Le Mans race

The Australian Shahin, the Italian Pera and the Austrian Lietz had travelled to France as the leaders of the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 teams and drivers. Lietz’s chances of a seventh class victory at Le Mans suffered a setback as early as Saturday: in the second hour of the race, Shahin pulled into the pits with a broken tie-rod. The unscheduled repair cost the 911 GT3 R, entered by The Bend Manthey, three laps. This dropped the car to the back of the field. By the chequered flag, the trio had worked their way up from 25th to 13th place. In the FIA Endurance Trophy, they finished ninth. This earned them four championship points.

The sister car, fielded under the Manthey DK Engineering banner, put in a strong performance in the first third of the race. At times, factory driver Ayhancan Güven from Turkey, Timur Boguslavskiy and Britain’s James Cottingham led the LMGT3 class. A puncture shortly before midnight forced an unscheduled pit stop for repairs. As this took place during a safety car period, the team also took the opportunity to change the brakes. As a result, car number 91 initially dropped back into the lower midfield of the GT3 category. During a pit stop shortly before 3:00 am, the damaged front end was also replaced.

In the second half of the race, the trio launched a comeback and were once again close to a podium finish. At around 10 am on Sunday morning, it was all over: Güven crashed into the barriers at the exit of the first Hunaudière chicane due to a technical fault. The reigning DTM champion was uninjured.

“Defeats are part and parcel of motorsport. After our early retirement at the Nürburgring, Le Mans hurts all the more. Celebrating together is one thing, but weathering such setbacks as a team is more difficult. Drawing strength from moments like these is what makes the difference in the end,” says Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH. “We now need to look at the factors we could influence this weekend at Le Mans. Sometimes you just have bad luck, but at the same time you have to see what could have gone better. Even if they’re tough, these are the character-building moments that help us progress as a team, if we handle them properly.”

Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil with guest driver Michael Fassbender at Le Mans

The Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil held two races as part of the Le Mans support programme. The first 45-minute race on Thursday was won by Brazilian Jeff Giassi, whilst Pietro Fantin took first place on Saturday morning. The rookie classification was won on both occasions by Pipo Massa, the son of former Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa. Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender took part as a guest driver in the field of 35 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The American, who has German-Irish roots, had previously competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race in 2022 and 2023 in a 911 RSR. In the Brazilian one-make cup, he finished 25th and then 14th.

Further information about the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Photos and videos: Porsche at Le Mans
Results from Le Mans: Alkamelsystems

Drivers' comments after the race

Ayhancan Güven (Porsche 911 GT3 R #91): “The race was over for us on Sunday morning, when – after our bad luck during the night – we were back in the top five and setting a good pace. But then a technical problem cropped up at the worst possible moment and I skidded into the barriers at high speed. Fortunately, I’m fine. I’m sorry for the team that we weren’t able to finish the race.“

Riccardo Pera (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): “We’d put together a promising package for the race and things were looking good. But we ran into problems early on and fell behind. Nevertheless, we managed to pick up four important points for the FIA Endurance Trophy in the end. When I look at where we were yesterday, that feels good.”