WEC - Richard Lietz (Porsche / Manthey) : "It's good to be back"

It's great to see you again !

To be honest, I tried my best to be there last year, but it didn't work out. So, I was more than happy when the Raeder brothers called me at the end of last year to ask me if I wanted to do the WEC this year. It's a championship I have been part from the beginning (2012). I only missed this one season (2023). So it's good to be back. I'm really happy.

How motivating is this new challenge represented by LMGT3?

I think it's, good to be there as the WEC change to the LMGT3 class. It's always good to learn a new category and I think it's going to be quite a big change. The GT3 category, in my opinion, has already a big boost around the world. But I think GT3 racing will get an even bigger boost through the WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours and it's great to be a part of it.

And I have to say that I'm looking forward to see the way to measure the BoP with the driveshaft. it's a new thing coming this year and I hope, everybody is aware of this and will check this all closely. And if it is the case, I think we have a good championship and a good season ahead of us.

You've won Le Mans four times, three times with a 100% professional crew and once with a gentleman driver. Does it bother you that there is no longer a GT category reserved for professional line-ups?

The category GT3 is developed for customer racing. The Hypercar category is mainly for the manufacturers, and it only makes sense if they open clearly the GT class to gentlemen,drivers or Bronze drivers. And if you look worldwide, the boom of the GT3 cars is mailny in the championships where you have a Bronze driver on the car. And don't forget that, not a long time ago, there haven't been so many starters in the WEC Championship. And the privateers always stayed. So I think that, for the WEC, it's a smart conclusion to do it like this.

Clearly, without them, Endurance would not be what it is...

For sure. And, definitely, the Manthey Racing Team won't have the support from the factory. It's a Manthey only entry. And I'm quite sure that it would not have been possible without a Bronze driver. So I think it's an important step for the WEC to include the Bronze drives.

You are one of the most experienced drivers in the history of the WEC, but that's not the case for your team-mates...

I have two new team-mates. One is quite experienced. He is from Australia : Yasser (Shahin). And the young one, Morris (Shuring), is from the Netherlands. He is one of the youngest, race winner in the Porsche Carrera Cup. So I think we have a strong line-up. Nevertheless, we also need to have the endurance spirit, together. So everyone needs to realise that we share one seat, we have one goal for the setup and one goal for the race.

The switch to GT3 has opened up the championship to drivers from other horizons. What are your thoughts on this?

Well, it's difficult to say. We all raced around the world : IMSA, Asia, WEC, European Le Mans Series... So GT3 drivers or GTE drivers, we basically raced against a lot of them. And at the end, your target is go to the limit, to give your best and to try to win the races. So it doesn't matter who is in front of you or who is the driver you are trying to overtake.

So, it's nice to see new faces. That opens up new combinations of driver line-ups. And a lot of people around the world dream to succeed in Le Mans and, therefore, it's easier for the teams to find drivers and budgets. So from the business point of view, it's better for the teams and the manufacturers. For us as a drivers, there is more competition. But as I said : it doesn't matter who is in front of you.

With two rookies, are you confident about your chances of winning?

It will certainly be exciting, but also challenging, to be successful there. But together with Manthey, with whom I have celebrated several successes in the past and know many of the team, I am looking forward to the task. We will do our best and hopefully fight for podium places and a win or two.