12/01/2026

How Manthey Porsche will operate its ‘first’ IMSA campaign

One of the biggest names in GT racing is venturing into North America this year to contest the endurance leg of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Manthey Racing will field a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R entries in the five long-distance races that form the Michelin Endurance Cup.

Manthey’s IMSA programme will be spearheaded by Porsche-contracted driver Klaus Bachler, 2023 GT World Challenge Sprint Cup champion Ricardo Feller and 2023 DTM champion Thomas Preining, who will share the iconic ‘Grello’ #911 Porsche in the GTD Pro class.

Meanwhile, Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Morris Schuring will share the #912 Porsche, which will be run under the Manthey 1st Phorm banner. Factory Porsche drivers Ayhancan Guven and Richard Lietz will join the #911 and #912 cars respectively for the Daytona 24 Hours.

Although Manthey is entering the Endurance Cup under its own name for the first time, this is not its first experience in IMSA. While its last two Daytona entries in the late 2010s ended in retirement, the German squad has continued to provide engineering support to multiple IMSA teams, including KCMG.

Even so, running two cars in IMSA’s biggest endurance events represents a major step — one that the team believes it is ready to take.

“We have been in IMSA for a long time. We have our engineering support and we have engineers who are in IMSA for a long time,” Patrick Arkenau, Manthey’s director of racing, told Motorsport.com.

“We, as Manthey, operated cars in IMSA and Daytona in 2017 and 2018, but since 2020 we offered engineering support to customers in IMSA, so we have multiple years of experience in IMSA.

“The IMSA paddock is absolutely not new to our guys running the cars; we are quite experienced there.

“For sure, to operate the whole effort is something different. There will be a learning curve, but due to the experience we already have… it’s challenging, but it’s not where we say, ‘okay we will have a hard first learning year and then we will see’. We expect to be on point from the Daytona race.”

#59 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R: Steve Smith, Harald Proczyk, Sven Muller, Matteo Cairoli

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Manthey enjoyed a hugely successful year in 2025, clinching the Le Mans 24 Hours/LMGT3 title double for a second consecutive year, while also returning to championship glory in the DTM with Guven.

North America remains the last frontier for a squad majority owned by Porsche, and its IMSA expansion is also driven by commercial considerations.

“North America is important for our street car business so that’s the reason [we are joining IMSA],” Manthey managing director Nicolas Raeder told Motorsport.com. “It’s driven by the street car department that we have. We want to promote our kits more in the US, and that’s the reason why we go to IMSA.”

To support its Endurance Cup effort, Manthey has established a secondary base in Miami, placing it close to the two Florida endurance classics that kick off the season.

The crew, however, won’t be permanently based in the US. The team that will work on the IMSA programme, composed of engineers who already work in the WEC and DTM, will travel from its Meuspath headquarters as required.

Unlike the WEC, where the cars are loaded onto a ship immediately after a flyaway round, Manthey will be allowed to transport its IMSA-based vehicles to Miami between races.

“We will have a workshop based in Miami where our equipment and for sure the cars will be stationed,” explained Arkenau.

“But the general aim is that we operate it as we also operate other championships. We will not have a full second base with an American crew. It will be handled by our general crew who are in charge of all our racing activities.

“We will have the same key personnel that we have in WEC or even in DTM, so it will be just operated out of our core team and will be operated like we operate the WEC with [crew] flying in and flying out.

“For sure, the crew will have a little bit extended stay in order to do the maintenance on the cars, which is a bit easier than if you have to do it in the WEC at overseas events, [where you operate the car] at the racetrack.

«So there [in IMSA], we can use the time in the US. But in general, we treat it like WEC in the way it’s operated from our core team in Germany. It’s just that it’s a little bit easier because everything is stationed in the US.”

#911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992): Ryan Hardwick, Thomas Preining

Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images

Relying on a proven WEC/DTM crew for the IMSA foray makes complete sense for Manthey, especially with the five endurance rounds spread out through the year. But this operational model also made it impossible for Manthey to undertake a full IMSA campaign this year.

“We can only operate it in that manner if we focus on the five endurance races,” Arkenau explained. “If we would do the whole season we would really need an American crew, people being there all the time, and open a second base.

“Currently, with all the programs we are doing, this is not on our agenda.”

Raeder added: “For us, the quality is really important. We cannot scale up the quantity on the same quality. We have to do it step by step.

“What is important is that we don’t do anything that we can’t do. If we do it, then we have to do it in a proper way, that we believe that we have the opportunity to be in front or to win the races. If we don’t believe in that ourselves, then we don’t do it.”

However, Manthey hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a full-season IMSA programme in the future, provided it can make a business case for it.

“We will see how it’s running,” Raeder said of the endurance programme. “The whole world is changing so much and in the fast US market it is very important [to do well].

“Hopefully, we can activate the street car parts [through IMSA], and if we can measure that we sell more street car kits through the IMSA involvement, then for sure we will try to improve it [the programme].”

The Daytona 24 Hours will take place on 24-25 January, with Manthey competing for top honours in both GTD Pro and the pro/am GTD divisions.