Porsche will celebrate 75 years of Motorsport at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans with customer team Manthey, as both cars sport a silver livery in tribute to the first Porsche class victory in 1951.
As Manthey prepares to fight for its third consecutive LMGT3 win, its two Porsche 911 GT3 R will compete in a historic livery inspired by that worn by the 356 SL Coupé all those years ago.
In the very first outing for Porsche at the
After making the 11-hour journey from Zuffenhausen to the Circuit de la Sarthe by road, the Frenchmen took to the international racing stage.
As the chequered flag waved, Veuillet and Mouche had secured victory in their class and 20th place overall. They covered 2,840.65 kilometres at an average speed of 118.36 km/h.
Since then, Porsche has secured 19 overall victories and 112 class wins. For the 76th consecutive year, at least one Porsche will be on the starting grid of the world’s greatest endurance race.
This year, Manthey will be battling for its third consecutive victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe this year, as undefeated champions in the LMGT3 class. Since its inception in 2024, Manthey has won both editions of the race.
“We are not only record holders for overall and class victories, but also the only manufacturer to have fielded at least one car at Le Mans without interruption since 1951,” says Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport.
“This statistic makes us very proud. It underlines just how much Porsche relies on motorsport as a development platform. The internally ventilated disc brakes, the PDK dual-clutch gearbox – now an indispensable feature – and the 800-volt high-voltage technology are just three examples of this. We have brought these innovations from Weissach to production readiness through racing, including at Le Mans. They are therefore ‘race-born’ in the truest sense of the word.”
The big race: Tackling one of motorsport’s most iconic events
It’s almost time for endurance racing’s biggest event: The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Held annually for over 100 years, the classic event attracts over 300,000 people to the French city for one of motorsport’s most iconic races.
The 94th edition of the race takes place on June 13 and 14 this year, with practice and qualifying taking place across June 10 and 11.
The pre-race build-up begins on Friday June 5 and Saturday June 6, with the traditional town square scrutineering. Cars and drivers will head to Place de la République in the heart of Le Mans for administrative checks, with crowds gathering to spot their favourite machinery.
Sunday June 7 is the official test day, with two sessions for drivers to familiarise themselves with the track, before the fan-favourite autograph session on Tuesday June 9. The on-track action gets underway on Wednesday June 10 - see below for the full schedule.
Porsche has taken part since 1951, scoring its maiden class podium that year, before its first overall podium in 1958. The manufacturer took pole for the first time 10 years later, before its first victory in 1970.
Who’s who? The Manthey 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans driver line-ups
Manthey will be fielding two LMGT3 entries to represent Porsche in this year’s race.
The line-ups will be the same as the two crews competing in the full
Timur Boguslavskiy, James Cottingham and reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Güven will be at the wheel of the Manthey DK Engineering #91 Porsche.
Boguslavskiy and Cottingham join from The Bend Team WRT and United Autosports’ LMGT3 teams respectively.
Güven is making his WEC debut this season, having won the DTM championship with Manthey in 2025.
The sister #92 car, The Bend Manthey, will be piloted by Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz.
Shanin returns to Manthey after a year with WRT to join Pera and Lietz in their second year as team-mates.
The team #92 crew of Lietz, Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera took victory at last year’s event, while the #91 car of Lietz, Morris Schuring and Shahin won in 2024.
