Manthey Racing and EMA Motorsport have joined forces for an assault on next season’s Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli season opener at the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour with Porsche.
The German and Australian squads spent much of 2022 working together across several GT3 programmes, including the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa and VLN. Now that collaboration is kicking up a gear with confirmation that a Grello-liveried 911 GT3 R will tackle the Pro class at Mount Panorama in February.
Porsche’s all-new 992-based GT3 model will not be ready in time for Bathurst, so the team – which is set to run under the Manthey EMA banner – will instead field the existing 991.2 variant.
A 991.1 spec 911 GT3 R scored Porsche’s only win Down Under in 2019 on its final front line factory appearance before being replaced by the 991.2, which – four years on – will be in a similar position to its predecessor when 2023’s event takes place on February 3-5.
The teams, meanwhile, have both tasted recent success at Bathurst. EMA finished second overall and won the Silver class in 2020 when it oversaw 59 Racing’s two McLarens, while Porsche stalwarts Manthey – the most successful team in Nurburgring 24 Hours history – finished sixth at Mount Panorama in 2018.
“The season opener of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli in Bathurst is a special highlight in the racing calendar, and we are looking forward to starting our motorsport year 2023 with this event together with EMA,” said Manthey’s managing director Nicolas Raeder.
“With its hilly sections, the Mount Panorama Circuit is reminiscent of the Nordschleife and places very high demands on both the vehicle and the drivers. This is exactly where we're experienced from our stints in the Green Hell. And we clearly want to compete for victory in Australia.”
Manthey EMA will reveal its Pro driver line-up and livery in due course.