The Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey EMA with starting number 911 finished the second round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series in fifth place. Final driver Thomas Preining (Austria) saw the chequered flag after 27 laps. Kévin Estre (France) completed the driver line-up at the second outing of the new nine-eleven.

Qualifying on Saturday morning started in wet track conditions. Manthey EMA sent the Porsche 911 GT3 R with rain tyres into qualifying on the 24.358-kilometre combination of Nordschleife and short connection of the Grand Prix circuit. With a lap time of 9:12.291 minutes, Kévin Estre placed the number 911 car in tenth place.

The starting phase of the NIMEX 47th DMV 4-hour race was characterized by thrilling duels among the 132 participants. Kévin Estre advanced to fifth position during the first lap of the race. In the further course, the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey EMA was able to pull further away and collected its first leading kilometres on the Nordschleife due to a deviating pit stop strategy. After 13 laps, Thomas Preining took the wheel and returned to the track on slicks. Due to unfortunate Code 60 phases, the team fell back and crossed the finish line in fifth place.

"We are still at the beginning of our work with the new Porsche and are therefore satisfied with the race. In qualifying, we didn't catch the right moment to set a good time. The careful choice of tyres at the start also cost us time. But it was important that Kévin had time behind the wheel and that we could drive through the race. The car has some traces of battle - now it's about rebuilding it for the next races and being able to perform strongly there," says Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH.

The next round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series will take place on 15 April 2023, but Manthey EMA will not be able to participate in this due to the overlapping dates with the official DTM pre-season test. The next outing of the Porsche 911 GT3 R with the starting number 911 on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife is the 24-hour qualifying from 22 to 23 April.

Driver comments on NLS 2:

Kévin Estre, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911:
"With fifth place, the race wasn't perfect, but we didn't make any big mistakes. The tyre decision at the start was not optimal, but we were on the safe side and reacted well during the race. After that, we were able to drive a clean race, but we lacked a bit of performance. For me, it was the first race with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R on the Nordschleife. In the dry, the car is already quite good, but there is still room for improvement. We have a good starting position for the season, but we still have to work a bit until everything is perfect."

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911:
"I didn't drive much in qualifying and had to adjust quickly to the car in the race. That worked out well and it was great to be able to drive parts of the race in the dry. Towards the end we were unlucky with a code 60 phase, otherwise a podium finish would probably have been possible. We still have to work on a few points before the 24-hour race. But I have full confidence in the team that we will have everything together in May to achieve our goal."