• Manthey finishes second in the third round of the 2026 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS)
• Matt Campbell and Ayhancan Güven make up 14 places in the 4-hour race in the Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 911
• Race debut for the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Manthey (#992) entered together with the Griesemann Gruppe

Nürburg. Manthey finishes the third round of the 2026 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie in second place. After a qualifying session heavily affected by multiple Code 60 phases, Porsche works drivers Matt Campbell (Australia) and Ayhancan Güven (Turkey), who piloted the Grello Porsche with starting number 911, fought their way consistently forward from position 16 in the 57th Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy. In doing so, they seamlessly continue Manthey’s ongoing run of podium finishes on the Nordschleife dating back to the 2024 season. Following the weather-related cancellation of NLS1, this marked the Grello’s first race appearance of the year in the Green Hell. Meanwhile, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Manthey, entered by Manthey together with the Griesemann Gruppe and driven by Björn and Georg Griesemann as well as Marco Holzer (all Germany), made its race debut on Saturday. The car with starting number 992 worked its way up to overall position 17, but had to be retired shortly before the end of the race due to a technical issue in the driveshaft area. 

“NLS3 was our first actual race on the Nordschleife this year. We were on site since Thursday, completed extensive testing and gathered important data. At the same time, we also celebrated the race debut of the new 911 GT3 Cup Manthey together with the Griesemann Gruppe”, concludes Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director of Manthey Racing GmbH. “Overall, it was an exciting race day for both the Grello and the No. 992 car, even though qualifying was mixed. While our pace on track was consistent, we simply didn’t have the luck needed to complete a truly clean lap – which ultimately resulted in the respective starting positions.”

“In the race, we were able to quickly find a good rhythm with both cars, gain positions early on and work our way into strong, promising positions. With the Grello, a strong performance from Matt and Ayhancan ultimately secured second place overall and, with it, the first Nordschleife podium of the season. We are satisfied with that result, even though we were not always able to match the pace of our competitors – this is something we now need to analyse in detail”, continues Patrick Arkenau, Director Racing. “The 911 GT3 Cup Manthey also showed very promising potential on its debut. Unfortunately, we had to retire the car after a technical issue in the driveshaft area during the final pit stop, which prevented a possible top result. Nevertheless, we take a lot of positive learnings from NLS3, which we will continue to build on."

Manthey faces a packed schedule in the two weeks following NLS3: With the season openers in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) (April 17–19) and the DTM (April 24–26), as well as the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers (April 17–19), the team has several major highlights ahead.

Fahrerstimmen zu NLS3 2026:

Matt Campbell, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911: “Finishing P2 today at the Nürburgring is a fantastic result for the team, especially after qualifying in P16. It was great to share the car with Ayhancan! We’re building a strong record together despite only a few races so far. I also really enjoyed being back on the Nordschleife and back with Manthey after a couple of years away!"

Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911: “I’m thrilled to be back on the podium at the Nürburgring! This morning, qualifying proved to be tricky at first: We had some bad luck and couldn’t get a clean lap under green due to Code 60s and Full Course Yellows, so we had to start from P16. From there, we delivered a really strong race. The team made the right strategy calls, the car felt great and Matt did a very good job. Moving forward through the field and finishing P2 is a fantastic result. Also, since the first NLS race was cancelled, this was effectively our first outing, so it was an important one – to get back into rhythm, manage traffic and adapt again to Code 60s and all the procedures at the Nürburgring. All in all, a great weekend!”