Manthey Director Arkenau: 'Full-Season IMSA Effort Being Looked At'

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Manthey Racing are one of the most successful GT racing outfits of all-time, and there could be an expanded effort to their IMSA WeatherTech Series efforts in the near future.

Speaking to John Dagys of SportsCar365.com during the weekend of the recently completed Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen, racing director Patrick Arkenau remarked that a full-season effort in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship for Manthey is certainly possible, and at the least, a return in 2027 to again contest the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds is essentially expected at this point in time.

Arkenau points to the massive investment Manthey have made into racing in North America in 2026 as a foundation to continue into next season and beyond, as a focus for the team is to not have that investment go to waste after just one season racing aboard. 

"For sure it's things we're looking into [expanding to a full-season effort]," Arkenau told Dagys. "We didn't do all the investment we did just for a single year. How the exact program will look in the future is still to be confirmed."

"We're working on various things but for sure the interest from our side is big...It's very interesting and very temping to do more and see the 'Grello' on the streets of Long Beach or Detroit. Maybe we'll see it one day. We're definitely working on it."

Manthey have flexed their muscle racing Stateside with their dual-car effort in both GT classes, with the No. 911 GTD Pro entry winning the 12 Hours of Sebring and the No. 912 GTD entry pulling off the unlikely victory at Watkins Glen after the trio of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz started from 18th on the grid and led just eight laps total.

Manthey's presence in IMSA has been a great injection to the series, with the fans showing up to follow the immensely popular organization on race weekends in huge numbers. We were on site for the Sahlen's Six Hours and took plenty of trips through the paddock, and during the fan autograph session on Saturday Manthey's trailer had the third-longest line of fans behind only AO Racing (obviously!) and the GTP teams.

Without trying to speculate so much, we'd obviously hope that the dual-car effort would continue in 2027. Or, could Manthey roll with two GTD Pro entries at the expense of the GTD entry? Driver lineups and availability will be key as we're set for the same batch of schedule clashes that we saw this season between IMSA, the WEC and SRO GT World; the No. 911 had to shuffle their lineup with Michael Christensen and Leok Hartog subbing in for Riccardo Feller and Thomas Preining who were drawn in for duties at the 24 Hours of Spa, something they certainly took advantage of by claiming overall victory alongside Bastian Buus in the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche.

The other angle to note when it comes to how Manthey does things is they routinely incorporate other entities to the mix for financial support, having raced in tandem or in support with EMA, PureRxcing and the Iron Dames in the recent past, while for this season in the World Endurance Championships running in tandem with DK Engineering for the No. 91 entry and The Bend for the No. 92 entry. With the GTD entry being run in support with 1st Phorm, it seems based off recent history that Manthey would opt to continue those sort of partnerships, and just maybe the "big things" Arkenau is talking about could involve support from US-based teams? 

Regardless how it may shake out, it's great news that Arkenau and Manthey are already thinking ahead and giving us an early indication to how the team is leaning for 2027. Even if it's just a return to the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds for next season, we'll take it. 






 

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