Manthey Racing

Retiring after the 1993 season of the original DTM series, Olaf Manthey began working for Persson Motorsport in 1994, which ran Mercedes race cars. After the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft series folded in 1996, Olaf Manthey established his own racing team, Olaf Manthey Racing, in the municipality of Rheinbreitbach.[3]

Manthey Racing Porsche 911 (993) driven by Oliver Mathai in the Porsche Supercup.

The team first raced in the Porsche Supercup in 1996, finishing 4th in the teams' standings with 158 points.[4] The next four seasons between 1997 and 2000 saw four consecutive teams' and drivers' championships for Manthey Racing and their Dutch driver Patrick Huisman.[5] In 1998, Manthey Racing took part in their first VLN event and won the Nürburgring race outright with a Porsche 911 GT2.[6] In the following year, Manthey Racing competed in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking part in the annual endurance race for the first time, entering with a Porsche 911 (996) GT3-R. The team won on their first attempt in the LMGT class with Huisman, Uwe Alzen, and Luca Riccitelli.

On 1 April 2000, Manthey Racing moved to their current location in the municipality of Meuspath.[3] The team would expand the site in 2006.

Manthey Racing returned to the Nürburgring in 2006, entering the Nürburgring 24 Hours with additional factory driver support from Porsche, running a 996-generation 911 GT3.[7] Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard, Mike Rockenfeller, and Marcel Tiemann took victory for Manthey Racing in the event, and due to favorable conditions and stiff competition from rival cars, also achieved what was then a new overall distance record (3,832 km (2,381 mi) in 151 laps). The team would compete once again in 2007, this time with Porsche's latest offering at the time, the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, with drivers Bernhard, Tiemann, Marc Lieb, and Romain Dumas behind the wheel. Manthey Racing would take the win, after the leading Aston Martin DBRS9 had experienced an engine failure, and the sister 911 GT3 RSR entry from Land Motorsport had received damage from contact with the Manthey car during the race.[8]

The 2007 24 Hours of Nürburgring race-winning #1 Manthey Racing 997 GT3 RSR.

Manthey Racing entered the 2008 edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours with five participating teams. Despite early drama for the team's #1 car, losing time with a leaky radiator and a tire failure, they were able to recover and eventually take the overall victory for the third year in a row, the car driven by Bernhard, Tiemann, Lieb, and Dumas.[9] Manthey also scored an overall 1-2 finish in the race with their #23 Porsche 996 GT3 that previously won in 2006 finishing 2nd, with drivers Pierre Kaffer, Armin Hahne, Christian Haarmann, and Jochen Krumbach. The team's #26, #25, and #27 entries would finish 5th, 8th, and 12th respectively. The 2009 24 Hours of Nürburgring saw another victory for Manthey Racing with the #1 car, as well as a podium in the SP9 class with the #2 car.[10]

The 2010 24 Hours of Nürburgring saw Manthey Racing return to a five-team effort. Manthey's #9 entry debuted the flywheel hybrid-powered Porsche 997 GT3 R Hybrid sports car in the E1-XP class, and it would start strong, battling for the lead in the first stages of the race, though they would lose time after the car would suffer a puncture. Despite regaining the lead, however, the team would be forced to retire the car at the 22nd hour. At the end of the event, only one Manthey car crossed the line, the #88 car finishing 10th in the SP9 GT3 class.[11]

The 2011 race saw the team return to winning form, with the #18 car driven by Bernhard, Dumas, Lieb, and Lucas Luhr taking the overall win.[12] The returning hybrid-powered 997 GT3 R also won the E1-XP class.

In 2013, Manthey Racing worked with Porsche to help enter and represent the German manufacturer in the LM GTE Pro class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.[13] The team entered two cars for the 2013 season with the newly-unveiled Porsche 911 RSR, and Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Pilet, Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz, and Romain Dumas were selected for the driving lineups. Porsche and Manthey scored six podiums throughout the season, including a 1-2 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They would finish 3rd and 4th in the LM GTE Pro teams' standings. At the end of the year, Porsche worked with team owner Olaf Manthey on an agreement, in which Porsche bought a majority stake in Manthey Racing, taking a 51% share in the company.[2] That same year, Manthey returned to the 2013 24 Hours of Nürburgring after being absent in the 2012 event, winning the SP7 class, finishing 7th overall with Bernhard, Dumas, Lieb, and Luhr.[14]

Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in its traditional Grello livery.

For 2014, Manthey expanded back to four entries for the 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Their #40 entry scored a podium finish in the SP7 class, finishing 16th overall. Two of their cars would unfortunately retire from the event, and the #12 entry finished 15th in the SP9 GT3 class. For the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche and Manthey would finish 2nd and 4th with their #92 and #91 entries respectively, taking two wins and eight podiums, including a 3rd place finish in the LM GTE Pro class at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.[15] They would retain some of the driver lineup for that season from the previous year, but would replace Bernhard, Dumas, and Lieb with Frédéric Makowiecki, Nick Tandy, and Marco Holzer, as the former three would drive for Porsche's Le Mans Prototype team.

Building on their progress in the FIA World Endurance Championship the following year, Porsche and Manthey were able to secure the FIA Endurance Trophy for the LM GTE Pro class in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. Team driver Richard Lietz also won the LM GTE drivers' championship that year, known as the 'World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers'.[16]

In 2016, Manthey won the SP-X class in the 2016 24 Hours of Nürburgring with a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.[17]

In 2021, Manthey took the overall victory at the 2021 24 Hours of Nürburgring after just nine hours of racing.[18]

For the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, Manthey Racing was selected by Porsche to help operate its GT3 team.[19][20]

• Olaf Manthey
• Porsche in motorsport