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SPORTS CAR: Busy Year Ahead For Manthey
Olaf Manthey outlines team's factory Porsche entry into FIA World Endurance Championship, plans for VLN and Nurburgring 24...
Olaf Manthey, center, has joined forces with brothers Nicki and Martin Raeder, left and right, for the team's 2013 sports car campaigns. (Photo: Manthey Racing)
By Sören Herweg
A lot is going on at Manthey Racing these days. In November, Porsche announced they would field a factory program in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Olaf Manthey as their team manager, an the Nürburgring-based team has also been busy preparing their Porsches for the upcoming VLN season.
Then shortly before Christmas, Manthey and the brothers Nicolas and Martin Raeder announced they would merge their operations, Manthey Racing and Raeder-Automotive, into one big organisation.
“The past months have been pretty busy with the preparations for the WEC program going on at Weissach, then here at Meuspath we are busy preparing our Porsches for the upcoming VLN season,” said Olaf Manthey, who was joined by his new business partners Nicolas and Martin Raeder for this interview. “I’ve known them for years now and the first time we really got in touch was when they won the VLN 6 Hours in 2011, beating the stronger GT3 cars with a much slower TT-RS.
"After that, I even got a letter from their mother telling me that this must have felt like a knighthood for them, and after that we got into closer contact. My own son died in a road accident in 2007 and I told Martin’s and Nicki’s mother I would be proud if this would be my sons. I think all three of us are operating at the same wave length.”
Nicki Raeder commented: “I think the merger improves both organizations, as we all profit from the know how and the personal both teams have assembled over the past months. And some parts of our company are supplemented by some of Olaf’s operations."
What used to be the Manthey Racing GmbH, Manthey Motors GmbH and Manthey TZN Gmbh will merge with the Raeder Automotive Gmbh and Raeder Motorsport and will from now be known under Manthey Racing.
“As I am not getting any younger I wanted to start the transition into the future at an early stage so I know my business will be in good hands once I retire," Manthey said. "Actually the plan was to cut down on my work hours starting this year, but with our VLN operations and my involvement in the Porsche Factory WEC program I had to scratch this plan. I hope I am able to work flat out in my own rev limiter for another year."
The first topic of discussion was the upcoming WEC Program, where the former DTM Champion will manage the operations of the Porsche Team Manthey.
“In the past decade I was involved in some capacity with the race debuts of most of the Porsche race cars, may it be the 996 GT3 R or the 997 GT3 RSR or GT3 R and often we even scored the first victory. So I am extremely grateful to be involved in the debut and development work of the Porsche 991 RSR.”
But Manthey made it also clear that he wasn’t the only one from his Meuspath base to be involved in the world tour with the GTE car.
“Nicki for example will be one of the car engineers while Martin helps out with some of the organization tasks. For example, he is helping prepping our garage equipment. And then we have between four and six mechanics stationed at Weissach, to help work on the cars. Trackside it will be about split even between guys from Meuspath and Weissach.
"The cars will be fielded from Weissach, that’s because there they are closest to the engineers that are developing the cars and we have a short reaction time for any technical changes. The guys coming from Weissach will be coming out of the GT department; nobody from the LMP program is involved in our program. Both groups, the GT and the LMP, are currently working flat out on their projects.”
The GTE machinery will see Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Romain Dumas share on car while Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Pilet and Timo Bernhard are slated to drive the second RSR.
“I think from the driver side, we are pretty well sorted out, as all of the drivers have been corner posts of Porsche's works driver program for many years and all are lightning quick," he said. "I know the competition will be tough in GTE. None of our competitors have been sleeping over the winter and we are the only one debuting an all-new car, which on the one hand is a risk but hopefully with high reward.”
A lot is going on at Manthey Racing these days. In November, Porsche announced they would field a factory program in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Olaf Manthey as their team manager, an the Nürburgring-based team has also been busy preparing their Porsches for the upcoming VLN season.
Then shortly before Christmas, Manthey and the brothers Nicolas and Martin Raeder announced they would merge their operations, Manthey Racing and Raeder-Automotive, into one big organisation.
“The past months have been pretty busy with the preparations for the WEC program going on at Weissach, then here at Meuspath we are busy preparing our Porsches for the upcoming VLN season,” said Olaf Manthey, who was joined by his new business partners Nicolas and Martin Raeder for this interview. “I’ve known them for years now and the first time we really got in touch was when they won the VLN 6 Hours in 2011, beating the stronger GT3 cars with a much slower TT-RS.
"After that, I even got a letter from their mother telling me that this must have felt like a knighthood for them, and after that we got into closer contact. My own son died in a road accident in 2007 and I told Martin’s and Nicki’s mother I would be proud if this would be my sons. I think all three of us are operating at the same wave length.”
Nicki Raeder commented: “I think the merger improves both organizations, as we all profit from the know how and the personal both teams have assembled over the past months. And some parts of our company are supplemented by some of Olaf’s operations."
What used to be the Manthey Racing GmbH, Manthey Motors GmbH and Manthey TZN Gmbh will merge with the Raeder Automotive Gmbh and Raeder Motorsport and will from now be known under Manthey Racing.
“As I am not getting any younger I wanted to start the transition into the future at an early stage so I know my business will be in good hands once I retire," Manthey said. "Actually the plan was to cut down on my work hours starting this year, but with our VLN operations and my involvement in the Porsche Factory WEC program I had to scratch this plan. I hope I am able to work flat out in my own rev limiter for another year."
The first topic of discussion was the upcoming WEC Program, where the former DTM Champion will manage the operations of the Porsche Team Manthey.
“In the past decade I was involved in some capacity with the race debuts of most of the Porsche race cars, may it be the 996 GT3 R or the 997 GT3 RSR or GT3 R and often we even scored the first victory. So I am extremely grateful to be involved in the debut and development work of the Porsche 991 RSR.”
But Manthey made it also clear that he wasn’t the only one from his Meuspath base to be involved in the world tour with the GTE car.
“Nicki for example will be one of the car engineers while Martin helps out with some of the organization tasks. For example, he is helping prepping our garage equipment. And then we have between four and six mechanics stationed at Weissach, to help work on the cars. Trackside it will be about split even between guys from Meuspath and Weissach.
"The cars will be fielded from Weissach, that’s because there they are closest to the engineers that are developing the cars and we have a short reaction time for any technical changes. The guys coming from Weissach will be coming out of the GT department; nobody from the LMP program is involved in our program. Both groups, the GT and the LMP, are currently working flat out on their projects.”
The GTE machinery will see Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Romain Dumas share on car while Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Pilet and Timo Bernhard are slated to drive the second RSR.
“I think from the driver side, we are pretty well sorted out, as all of the drivers have been corner posts of Porsche's works driver program for many years and all are lightning quick," he said. "I know the competition will be tough in GTE. None of our competitors have been sleeping over the winter and we are the only one debuting an all-new car, which on the one hand is a risk but hopefully with high reward.”
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