• Pole position and start-to-finish victory in the third race of the 2025 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie for Manthey EMA, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Güven
• Since the start of 2024, the team has finished every race on the Nordschleife they competed in on the podium and secured its 58th NLS race victory overall
   

Nürburg. Manthey EMA celebrates a start-to-finish victory in the third race of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. Ayhancan Güven (Turkey) and Thomas Preining (Austria) secured their first joint NLS victory in the Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 911 at the 56th Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy. This continues Manthey EMA's run of podium finishes in endurance races at the Nürburgring since the start of the 2024 season.

The Eifel region welcomed the 132 cars that competed in the third NLS race of the season with bright sunshine. In Qualifying on Saturday morning, Ayhancan Güven managed a clean and fast lap on the 24.358-kilometre NLS variant of the Nordschleife and Grand Prix short circuit loop despite numerous Code 60 phases. This put the Grello in pole position for the four-hour race with a lap time of 7:52.856 minutes. The Turkish driver, who started the race in the cockpit of the No. 911 car, maintained this lead for the first 40 minutes of the race until the No. 15 car overtook the No. 911 in the Kesselchen section of the track. At the halfway point of the race, Güven handed over the wheel to his team-mate Preining, who initially laid in third place after the driver change and the second pit stop of the race, but had to relinquish this position to car number 3 with 75 minutes remaining. After all the other competing cars had pitted, the number 911 car entered the pit lane for the last time with 43 minutes remaining and rejoined the track in the lead. After a total of 29 laps, the Grello Porsche finally crossed the finish line as the overall winner, securing the 58th NLS victory for Manthey with six additional race wins for Raeder Motorsport.

"The first victory of the year on the Nordschleife and a very good weekend overall for us. We learned a lot during testing on Friday, which we were able to put into practice in the race today. Our strategy in qualifying was to go all-in very early in the session in order to set a good time quickly. We managed to do that on our second attempt after several Code 60 phases, and Ayhancan set a strong time to take pole position. The race also started very well for us. We only had to concede once to the Scherer Audi and once to the Falken Porsche. Thanks to an outstanding and consistent performance from both drivers and our strategy, which was the opposite of the other cars, we were able to win by a narrow margin in the end. Now we have the 24h Qualifiers coming up, where Kévin will also be getting behind the wheel for the first time this year. We are really looking forward to it and are confident that we will be well prepared for the 24-hour race.", explains Patrick Arkenau, Division Manager Racing at the Manthey Racing GmbH.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 911 will next be seen in action on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers from 23 to 25 May. Manthey will also contest the second race weekend of the DTM season at the Lausitzring on the same weekend. 

Quotes on NLS3:

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911: "For Ayhancan and me, it was the last race before the 24-hour race, and it's obviously great that we finished it off with a win. Now we're full of anticipation and motivation for the big race here on the Nordschleife. Of course, we want to win. There are still a few small areas where we can improve, but we know exactly where we need to focus our efforts, and we're really hoping for a successful result at the highlight of the year in June."

Ayhancan Güven, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911: "Winning a race on the Nordschleife feels great. We finished on the podium in all of last year's races and in all of this year's races, so overall it's been a very successful campaign for us here in endurance racing. That's something to be proud of. For me, this was the last race before the 24-hour race and I feel very well prepared. Now we have some time to analyse and make sure we are completely ready for the race we have been working towards the whole year so far."