AllRacing

IMSA the ‘last place on earth’ left for Manthey to conquer

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This may have gone under the radar and/or not got the recognition it deserves, but the team which won Le Mans and the DTM last year is coming to IMSA to race in North America for the first time across multiple races in a season.

Manthey Racing claimed LMGT3 honours at Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship title with America’s Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera, won DTM with Ayhancan Guven and finished second at Bathurst and the Nurburgring and that’s just 2025 alone.

It’s taken class wins at Le Mans in the last three races it’s done there, took another DTM title in 2023 with Thomas Preining, won Bathurst in 2024 and was victorious at the Nurburgring in 2021.

This is one of the very best GT sportscar racing teams in the world. And now, if you’re an IMSA fan, you’ll get to see Klaus Bachler, Ricardo Feller and Preining in GTD PRO and Hardwick, Pera and Morris Schuring in GTD. Both will contest the big endurance races – not a full season – but it’s a start.

“I’m looking at the sporting success,” says Patrick Arkenau, racing director at Manthey, talking to RACER about the team’s decision to enter IMSA, and why now?

“For me, it’s super, super exciting, and I’m very proud that I have the opportunity and also give my team the opportunity to be able to also compete in North America.

“It’s actually the last place on earth where we haven’t been successful, let’s say Asia not that much, we’re also missing Macau to win it, but we’ve been there, we’ve been everywhere in Europe or the world with WEC.

“Now also coming to the classical sportscar races like Daytona, Sebring, Petit, and having a chance to fight there for glory is very excit ing for us. We’re very much looking forward to it. And for sure, the goal is clear. We want to be successful as we are everywhere else.”

That’s a worrying thought for the opposition!

Manthey wants to increase American awareness of its performance parts business. Porsche photo

As for why it wants to enter IMSA, one of the main goals is to raise its profile in North America. The brand hasn’t managed to use its incredible sporting success globally for awareness of its business activities in America so far, which is mainly selling a variety of motorsport-derived upgrade packages for road-going Porsches.

“We also go to IMSA to just raise the awareness of Manthey as a brand in general, what we are actually doing, that we are much more than a race team,” Arkenau surmises.

“From a general brand perspective, America is a very important market for Manthey, and Manthey does not have the brand awareness as we have in other places in the world.”

It would be wrong to suggest the only reason for Manthey entering IMSA is commercial, though.

First and foremost the team is full of proper racers, and the level of competition in one of the worlds premier GT categories was always going to attract this team sooner or later.

And as much as the competition, it is how IMSA has created this competition. Arkenau reckons IMSA’s GT categories are right up there with two of the world’s most prestigious equivalent championships.

“For us, it’s always very important that we as a team can make a difference,” says Arkenau.

“While in DTM with the strategy, with the pit stops, in WEC with strategy, double-stinting [tires], and also IMSA, as a team, you can always make a difference.

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“Even though you may be a tenth or two off, you can do something which brings you back into the game. And this is what we like and what we love, and this is something which has all the three championships in common for us, and how I see IMSA a bit, is a perfect mix of WEC and DTM.

“You have the endurance character like in WEC with different driver lineups, long races, strategy.

“But also you have this last hour, or after the last yellow, it’s a sprint race to the flag, where the best driver in the best car with a good track position, it makes a difference. It’s a bit more like DTM, where you have this close wheel-to-wheel racing, very exciting.

“So we see it as a perfect mixture of what we currently do, and we definitely combine the knowledge of both championships, where we have quite some experience, and to bring it into IMSA, and I think both of them will help us to be competitive in IMSA.”

Manthey’s DTM experience could help it in IMSA. DTM photo

Arkenau acknowledges the challenge IMSA presents with such a different variety of tracks, something he also thinks experience in DTM will help with because of its wide variety from the Nurburgring to the Norisring. That’s probably not a million miles away from the gap between Sebring and Indianapolis for example.

But there will be other challenges too, like the pit and paddock set-up and logistics which are different in IMSA to other championships around the world.

The team has raced at Daytona before, so to add a few more long-distance races isn’t the biggest leap for this outfit.

But it really does only compete to win – that’s not a cliche, its resume proves it – so it’s going to be one of the big and exciting storylines to watch in IMSA this year.

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To have a team as good as this enter IMSA is a massive coup and should be a joy for fans.

Well, the neutrals at least. It could be a curse for its opposition.