Manthey took another brilliant victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, securing its second consecutive LMGT3 win, as the #6 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport took the runner-up spot overall.
The #92 Manthey 1st Phorm car driven by Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera secured a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, dominating to cross the line 33 seconds clear of its closest rival.
It marked Lietz’s sixth class win at the French endurance classic and Manthey's 24th WEC victory. The team also won the race last year with the #92 PureRxcing car.
The #6 Porsche 963, driven by Matt Campbell, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, finished second overall after a hard-fought race, battling from the back of the pack to finish as runner-up.
The #5 car of Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Mathieu Jaminet finished seventh, with the sister #4 shared by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Pascal Wehrlein in ninth overall.
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 was 14th overall, driven by Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino and Nicolás Varrone.
In the LMGT3 class, the #90 Manthey car - shared by Antares Au, Loek Hartog, Klaus Bachler and sporting a special Chip Hart Racing livery - was sixth in class.
The Iron Dames #85 trio of Sarah Bovy, Célia Martin, Rahel Frey fought hard in the face of adversity to bring the car home 16th in their class.
Another victory for Manthey
Another year, another stellar Le Mans victory from Manthey, with a fantastic victory from the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm car driven by Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera.
The customer outfit, the Porsche 911 GT3 R and Porsche Motorsport factory driver Lietz all maintained their 100 percent record at Le Mans in the LMGT3 class that debuted last year.
For Lietz, it marked a remarkable sixth GT class win in 19 starts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The trio qualified 13th for the race, and spent the opening stages of the event making steady progress up the order until the crew emerged as a leading contender for class victory.
The LMGT3 regulations require the line-up to be made up of at least one Bronze driver and at least one other Bronze or Silver driver, as nominated via the FIA Driver Categorisation process.
Hardwick, the designated Bronze for the entry, did his job perfectly in the early stages of the race and in the closing hours of the night, consolidating the car's position relative to its rivals in his allotted drive time.
Silver driver Pera and factory driver Lietz were tasked with extending the lead and did so reliably in their stints, even against rival factories' leading drivers.
The #46 BMW looked to be the strongest potential obstacle standing between the #92 and the win, but it exited the race during the nighttime when electrical issues pitched it off the track and then into retirement.
It set up a straight battle between the #92 and the #21 Ferrari, which played out in the night hours of the race - as Hardwick handed the Porsche 911 GT3 over to Lietz, having stayed within striking distance of the opposition.
Lietz made a big push for the lead in the 14th and 15th hour, then nailed a full course yellow restart to pick off the Ferrari for the lead.
He stretched out the lead to nearly a minute and Pera, after taking over, preserved that lead and nurtured it further. During that period, the crew also weathered the time lost from a drive-through penalty - having been one of many entries sanctioned for a yellow flag infringement.
The lead grew further again once Lietz returned to the car, and hovered around a minute as the race entered its final stages.
Incredible podium push for #6
The #6 car, shared by Matt Campbell, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, put in a sensational charge through the field.
After finishing fourth in Wednesday’s qualifying session, the car was disqualified for being below the minimum weight, dropping it to the back of the Hypercar pack for the race.
With Estre first in the car, he immediately set about making progress from the start, and was up to seventh place by lap 10, setting a fastest lap in the process. Vanthoor then took over from Estre at the end of lap 37.
Running fifth by the end of the first hour, the #6 was then promoted to third during a pitstop, exiting the pits ahead of the #83 Ferrari.
Entering hour five, the #6 car was just 21.5s behind the leader, eventually taking control as the pit stops cycled through before a driver change put Campbell behind the wheel.
It remained at the front of the field into the night, with the gap to the leader remaining around 20 seconds throughout. It took third place in hour eight, with Estre passing the #50 Ferrari, which had a penalty.
The battle with the Ferraris continued into Sunday morning, as the #6 was overtaken by the #50 Ferrari at the first Mulsanne chicane, trying to hit back at the second chicane but cutting the corner.
With six hours to go, the #6 car was just over a minute behind the leader in fourth place, running behind the three Ferraris.
By hour 22, Vanthoor had brought that car within 2.5s of the #50 car and, with brilliant work from the pit crew, was able to take the position with a four-second advantage in second place.
Despite a brilliant effort from Estre in the final stint, he was unable to catch the leader, but secured a fantastic second place for the Porsche Penske Motorsport team.
#5: 7th place
The #5 car shared by Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Mathieu Jaminet lined up third for the race, after a brilliant showing in Hyperpole on Thursday.
Andlauer was first at the wheel and after a brilliant start, passed the first Cadillac in the Dunlop curves and the second Cadillac on the straight to take the lead of the race..
He immediately built a commanding lead, up to seven seconds by lap 10 before setting the fastest lap of the race at that point with a 3m28.125s.
Stopping around the three-hour mark, Jaminet took the wheel, racing with one of the fresh-tyred Ferraris, which got ahead at the Mulsanne corner.
After another pitstop for fresh tyres, Jaminet made it back past that same Ferrari, but sadly soon after received a drive-through penalty for not respecting slow zone procedures.
The #5 car then made a stop where Christensen took the wheel from Jaminet, and took the penalty soon after to run 11th on track.
Andlauer got back in the driving seat at the end of lap 97, around the hour-six mark, remaining around the bottom half of the top 10.
Consistent work from all three drivers allowed the #5 car to hold its position throughout the night, defending against several challenges to remain inside the top 10.
It went on to finish seventh - a great comeback after that early penalty in such a competitive field.
#4: 9th place
The #4 car of IMSA SportsCar Championship pairing Nasr and Tandy and reigning Formula E world champion Wehrlein started fifth on the grid.
Nasr made up a place straight away to run fourth, but was forced to stop early after an issue with the tyres, which dropped the car outside the top 10.
Tandy took over midway through hour two, and set about making progress, overtaking the Proton Competition Porsche and a Toyota in quick succession before pitting at the end of hour three.
Shortly before 20:00, the #5 car stopped for Tandy to get out and for Wehrlein to take over, making his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
He quickly built a good rhythm, and was able to do a good job holding up the #311 Cadillac to break into the top 10.
Nasr was next to drive, returning for his second stint at the end of hour six to run in ninth-place.
Unfortunately, the #4 also received a slow-zone procedure penalty during the night, which damaged its chances of further progress.
Despite the challenges of first the tyre issue and then the penalty, the trio worked hard to bring the car home in ninth-place.
Customer racing
The #99 Proton Competition car, shared by Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino and Nicolás Varrone, lined up in 19th for Saturday’s race.
It made good progress in the early stages, carving its way through the top 20 to run 12th by the end of hour four.
But it encountered trouble after the halfway mark, suffering contact from the #311 Cadillac into the gravel at Mulsanne before running into more gravel further through the lap.
Despite that, it continued on, and managed to avoid any further incidents to finish 14th in the Hypercar class.
LMGT3
The #90 Manthey Racing car took its unique livery to a sixth-place finish.
The car competed in the colours of Chip Hart Racing, a team that doesn't actually exist save for the confines of new film F1: The Movie yet one that can now boast a top-10 class finish in the world's most iconic endurance race.
It started 19th in class and spent the early stages battling at the back, but soon began to make its way through the LMGT3 order.
Bronze driver Antares Au, Silver driver Loek Hartog and Porsche Motorsport factory driver Klaus Bachler - a reigning FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 drivers' champion - eventually completed their comeback with sixth place.
The #85 Iron Dames crew put together a spirited race despite its pre-race misfortune being compounded by poor luck in the event itself.
The crew was forced to replace Michelle Gatting with Sarah Bovy after Gatting suffered a broken foot during the Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day - but Bovy, well-known to the programme, slotted in well and helped keep the car in the mix for much of the race.
Célia Martin, Bovy and Rahel Frey kept the #85 in and around the top five through the first half of the race, but their race was dealt a big blow when the #87 Lexus nudged Frey into the Mulsanne gravel - a collision in which the stewards deemed the #87 to be at fault.
But it was of little consolation to Frey, who required recovery vehicle assistance to get the #85 back into the race.
Shortly afterwards the car stopped on track with gearbox issues - and it required a lengthy troubleshooting spell in the pitlane.
But that troubleshooting was successful, the Iron Dames carried on to reach the finish in 16th place in the LMGT3 class.
The World Endurance Championship returns on July 13 with the 6 Hours of São Paulo, round five of eight in 2025.
