That is right, the LMGT3 heavyweight Manthey is still hunting down its very first victory of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, yet they are sitting pretty in the title fight with just three rounds remaining. Coming off their finest finish of the season earlier this month in Texas, the squad has officially trained its crosshairs on the top step of the podium for next weekend at Fuji, scheduled for 25-27 September.
Things did not go entirely to plan for both machines in Austin, though. The #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R—competing under The Bend Manthey banner—saw its race effectively ruined early on when Bronze-rated driver Yasser Shahin suffered a collision that inflicted brutal steering damage. That left Shahin alongside teammates Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz six laps down at the finish line, despite having already collected three podium finishes earlier in the year.
We had the chance to win the race, which shows our potential and how much our performance has improved since the start of the season,
Thankfully, the sister #91 Manthey DK Engineering car picked up the slack in magnificent fashion. Starting from third on the grid, James Cottingham held his own against the leading pack during the early chaos. Cottingham delivered a superb double-stint behind the wheel, earning the fan-voted Goodyear Wingfoot Award as the LMGT3 driver of the day for his troubles.
Timur Boguslavskiy and Ayhancan Güven kept that positive momentum rolling all the way to the runner-up spoils. Here is the painful part: the #91 had just taken the lead when it copped a five-second penalty for going off-track and gaining a lasting advantage. Cruelly, that penalty was almost exactly the margin by which the crew ultimately missed out on glory.
“Lone Star Le Mans was once again an exciting race, and – with light rain falling on-and-off – a strategically challenging one for the teams,” reflected Manthey Racing Director Patrick Arkenau. “The penalty may have cost us the chance of victory, but we are nevertheless very satisfied with second place.”
That runner-up finish has rocketed Cottingham, Boguslavskiy, and Güven five places up the order from tenth to within 28 points of the championship summit. Meanwhile, their sister car sits right alongside them, with the two line-ups separated by a single point in third and fifth positions in the overall classification. Now, they head to Japan ready to pounce.
“We had the chance to win the race, which shows our potential and how much our performance has improved since the start of the season,” said Cottingham. Güven, the 2025 DTM champion, echoed that sentiment regarding his maiden podium in just his fifth FIA WEC appearance: “James and Timur really delivered, and we certainly got the most out of our package.” Boguslavskiy added, “We’re now in the fight for the lead and will be aiming to secure our first win at Fuji.”
