Manthey Racing is ready to start the new endurance racing season in the Eifel region! The traditional racing team will fight for positions and points in the 2014 endurance racing season with up to six Porsche 911 GT3 and a number of well-known drivers. A few weeks before the official VLN start, the team based at Meuspath has entered into contracts with the strong drivers known from previous years and one new crew member for all of the Porsche 911.
The five times 24h winner team which is based in the industrial park at the Nürburgring continues to focus on the VLN endurance racing championship whilst the works engagement with the Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will start its second season. “As the most difficult race track of the world, the Nürburgring is now as before a big challenge for us”, explains Olaf Manthey. “Manthey and the Nordschleife – anything that belongs together shall remain together! All of our clients unanimously are fans of the Green Hell!”
The motorsport cornerstone of the MR fleet is and remains the Wochenspiegel-Porsche, but the driver quartet Georg Weiss, Oliver Kainz, Michael Jacobs and Jochen Krumbach has not yet revealed in which of the 911 versions they will start. “After the end of the Test and Set-Up Sessions and the first championship round, we will decide in which Porsche and in which class we will fight for points throughout the remaining nine VLN races and compete in the 24h racing highlight”, explains Weiss.
The blue-white GT3 Cup will be at the start with the top driver duo of Wolfgang Kohler and local hero Christian Menzel. In particular in wet conditions, this Cup-Porsche had many times been a true challenge for the categories stronger in performance during the past two years, to the great satisfaction of the spectators! “This is the third season for Christian and me to compete in the same team”, informs Kohler. “We aim for positions in the top five in 2014.”
Otto Klohs and Harald Schlotter will also compete in the endurance racing season in the Eifel region with a GT3 R. For their second VLN season the driver duo again relies upon the experience of Manthey-Racing for the technical support of their Porsche race car. “Last year had made us wish for more”, says Klohs. “According to current plans, we will be on the starting grid at eight events.”
With Marco Schelp and Michael Tischner another well-known driver duo will support the Manthey team. They will compete in class SP7 with probably the only 011 GT3 Cup this year in the VLN. “If we can reduce our bad luck of the racing season 2013, we will be facing an exciting season”, is the optimistic forecast of Schelp.
Completely new on the starting grid will be Stefan Widensohler, Nils Reimer and Reinhold Renger! The experienced club sportsmen and enthusiasts of the Nordschleife coming from the Hanseatic city of Hamburg join professional motor sport for their first time. “Just like for our street-legal Porsche, we rely on the experts of Manthey with our racing version, too”, explains Widensohler, who will chase around the Nürburg in a GT3 Cup together with his team mate. “It is our target to compete in as many rounds as possible in order to gain as much experience as possible during the season.”
The start of the first VLN round will be given on 29th March as usual at 12 o’clock.
In 2014, a summary of all of the 10 races will again be broadcasted in sport1.
