It’s one of those announcements that needs no hyping up, largely because you’re already left foaming at the mouth before you’ve even finished reading the headline. Starting next year, Manthey are entering two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs into IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup in both the GTD Pro and GTD classes.

It’s an incredibly exciting expansion for the team who need no introduction when it comes to endurance racing. The seven time Nurburgring 24 hour winners and NLS regulars have become a household name in Germany’s motorsport scene and a fan favourite with their iconic #911 ‘Grello’ machine driven by the likes of Kevin Estre, Micheal Christensen and Richard Leitz.

Spreading the effectiveness of the entry much like Vasser Sullivan’s Lexus programme, they’ll split the two cars across both GTD Pro and GTD – the key difference being that GTD requires a bronze graded driver in the entry, while GTD Pro has no such restrictions.

It comes after two successful years in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where they’ve made the most of their time in LMGT3, and are currently on course to win back to back titles on top of their Le Mans class win earlier this year.

Really, given Manthey’s track record it feels like the perfect move, allowing for potential glory in the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and more. I’d be surprised if they didn’t find themselves in with a real shot at victory in either of the five races that make up the 2026 Michelin Endurance Cup – the five longest races on the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship calendar.

What makes this more enticing is that the current GTD Pro field currently contains just one Porsche – AO Racing’s #77 Rexy and with Manthey entering the fray it bolsters what’s been a truly brilliant class in terms of racing product and strength of entry. If you’re looking for extra excitement this is the class Grello will be competing in next year – complete with race number #911 – meaning that not only do AO Racing have competition for bragging rights, the fans themselves are sure to be absolutely spoilt with two of the most beloved teams finally facing off against one another. That’s one of the duels I’m really excited to see next year.

Meanwhile in GTD, the #912 that’s been so brilliant in WEC over the past two years will be throwing itself into the competition in a class that often sees entries of over 20 cars for MEC races against the likes of ever aforementioned Vasser Sullivan crew, AF Corse and plenty more.

The driver lineup is unconfirmed as of this moment and will likely be announced soon, though with the talent Manthey already have on their books, you’d expect a few to be plucked straight from their own camp. Ayhancan Guven, Thomas Preining, Richard Leitz and Riccardo Pera could, perhaps should, all be in with a reasonable shout of slotting into the 2026 lineup and with his knowledge of American tracks Ryan Hardwick could well be the perfect Bronze. But time will tell.

For now, I’m just going to sit here in untold anticipation for January.

thumbnail credit – Philipp Ganjon, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons