Porsche Penske Motorsport said goodbye to the FIA World Endurance Championship at the season finale in Bahrain as Manthey secured its second consecutive LMGT3 title.
Saturday’s 8 Hours of Bahrain marked the end of the current chapter in WEC for the team, though the Porsche 963 will return in the
After a difficult weekend, the #6 car shared by
With a rollercoaster season coming to an end, Estre and Vanthoor finished fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, while the team secured third place in the Manufacturers’ Championship.
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 driven by Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino and Nicolás Varrone finished 17th.
The race also marked another huge success for Porsche customer team Manthey, as the triumphant trio of Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera secured the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Drivers in the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm car.
The team had a sensational season, scoring wins at both the 6 Hours of Imola and the season highlight, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This title is the first WEC title for both Hardwick and Pera and the second for Lietz. It marks the second consecutive title for the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R, having taken the same title under the PureRxcing guise last season.
The Iron Dames #85 trio of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Célia Martin, finished Saturday’s race in 12th place.
Story of the race
The #5 car lined up in eighth for Saturday’s race, with Andlauer first to drive, with Vanthoor starting 18th in the #6 car after a difficult qualifying session on Friday.
Andlauer lost a place in the early melee after a big snap at Turn 2, but managed to avoid any contact to run in ninth. Vanthoor, further back, made up three places.
Early racing saw the #5 car fight hard to hold off the #50 Ferrari, despite a pace deficit, and Andlauer made it inside the top 10 in the early stages.
The #6 soon made strong progress of its own, with Vanthoor passing, among others, the #20 BMW, the #38 Cadillac and the #15 BMW in the space of a few laps to run in 12th.
Both cars made their first stops around the first hour mark, with differing strategies on tyres. The #5 took two left tyres, while the #6 took two for the rear.
For much of the next few hours, both cars were inside the top 10, though the #5 suffered minor damage early on after contact from an LMGT3 car.
Racing was interrupted shortly after the three hour mark, with virtual safety car after an incident involving the #54 Ferrari LMGT3 car.
A difficult restart saw both cars lose out, and the #6 stopped on lap 117 around hour four in an attempt to undercut its competitors, with Campbell taking the wheel. The #5 car stopped the following lap for Jaminet to have his turn driving.
Both cars again fought hard, the #6 car running as high as sixth after battling with the #93 Peugeot and the #50 Ferrari before losing pace and stopping at the end of hour five.
The sister car was in eighth before also making a pitstop soon after and coming out in front of the #6 car.
With two hours remaining, both cars had fallen outside the points, and despite both crews’ best efforts, they finished the race one ahead of the other in 13th and 14th, the #6 crew ahead.
Customer racing
The #99 Porsche 963 driven by Jani, Pino and Varrone finished 17th in the Hypercar class, crossing the finish line in the place where they started.
The trio lined up in 17th place, with Varrone first to drive, but encountered an issue at the start and ran wide early on, dropping a place and losing time to the rest of the pack.
Despite a strong effort from all three drivers, they were unable to make progress through a strong field and finished in 17th.
LMGT3
The #92 crew lined up in 17th for Saturday’s race, with Hardwick first to drive as the trio launched their final championship charge.
Straight off the line, Hardwick began a hard charge, taking avoiding action from other tussling GT cars to make up two places.
With a heroic effort which earned him the Driver of the Day Award, Hardwick performed a brilliant triple stint to run eighth after three hours - up nine places from the start.
Charging even further through the order, the trio were battling for the podium by the end of hour four, with Lietz putting up a great fight against the #27 Aston Martin for third place, where they ran until the final hour.
Despite the podium slipping away in the closing stages, the #92 crew finished in fourth to clinch the teams’ and drivers’ titles for Manthey once more.
The Iron Dames #85 trio started 18th for the season finale, and though they made up three places early on, were dropped to the back of the field by an early spin at Turn 11.
As they attempted to bounce back, they had further bad luck after contact from the #31 BMW at Turn 1, losing some bodywork.
They also had to make an extra pit stop early on due to a puncture, but once again, the trio fought hard, and they were running around the bottom of the top 10 by hour four.
A slow car ahead hindered their progress, but they continued their fight until the end to finish 12th at the end of the race.
Coming next
Though Porsche Penske Motorsport will not compete in the WEC next season, the Porsche 963 will make its return to racing in IMSA in January.
The championship kicks off with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 24-25, with the pre-season Roar Before the 24 test taking place the preceding weekend.
Newly-crowned champions Manthey will make their IMSA debut next season, fielding one Porsche 911 GT3 R in both the GTD and GTD PRO classes of the five IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races.
The 'Grello' Porsche (#911), well known for its appearances at the Nürburgring and in the DTM, will join the PRO category. The GTD car, running #912, will compete under the Manthey 1st Phorm banner.
Elsewhere, the Formula E season starts in less than one month, with the São Paulo E-Prix on December 6.
