Manthey targets title defence in the 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series with two Porsche 911 GT3 R

After the double championship victory in the series debut in the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS), Manthey is continuing its involvement in the 2025/26 season and will once again field two Porsche 911 GT3 R in the endurance races across Asia. At the wheel of the nine-eleven with starting number 10 will be the two reigning ALMS champions Antares Au (Hong Kong) and Klaus Bachler (Austria) as well as Loek Hartog (Netherlands). Starting number 92 will be piloted by François Hériau (France) and Richard Lietz (Austria), supported by a silver driver to be named shortly.

"We are very proud and excited to be competing again with two cars in the 2025/26 ALMS season. After delivering a strong performance in our debut season, in which we won the championship title and also finished second in the overall standings, we are highly motivated going into the new season. We are delighted to be working with last year’s champions, Antares Au and Klaus Bachler, once again. Since Joel Sturm has been reclassified as a gold driver, Loek Hartog will be joining the two of them, and having already worked very well together at Le Mans, we are confident that he will be an excellent addition to the team. There is also a change for our second car: our current competitor in the WEC, François Hériau, who has been delivering impressive performances in the series, will be joining us in the ALMS from December onwards. We are very much looking forward to the challenge of competing in the series with a driver we have not worked with before, and we will be giving it our all in every race. Our goal is clear: to defend the championship title,” explains Patrick Arkenau, Director Racing at Manthey Racing GmbH.

With Antares Au, Klaus Bachler and Loek Hartog, a proven trio sits at the wheel of the car with starting number 10. Together with Manthey, they finished sixth in the LMGT3 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an entry that resulted from Au and Bachler's championship win in the GT class of the 2024/25 ALMS season with Manthey. Not only will the two share a cockpit for the fifth time in the Asian endurance championship, but they will also travel to Sepang in December as reigning champions for the season opener. Meanwhile, Hartog and Au have already celebrated several class victories together in 2025 in the GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

The line-up for the No. 92 car with François Hériau and Richard Lietz will be completed by a silver driver to be announced later. While Lietz competed for Manthey in both the last ALMS and FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) seasons in 2025 and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2025 for the second time in a row with the team, Hériau is new to the team. The Frenchman has been competing in the LMGT3 field of the FIA WEC since 2024, contested an ALMS season in the GT class in 2023/24 and has accumulated many years of experience behind the wheel of prototype cars. In addition to a class victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (FIA WEC), his greatest success in the current season was a second place in the LMGT3 class at the endurance classic in Le Mans – directly behind his future ALMS teammate. The Frenchman will make his debut driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R with Manthey at the season opener in Asia.

A total of 22 vehicles currently nominated will compete for the 2025/26 ALMS championship title in the GT class over six four-hour races. The season opener will take place on 13 and 14 December 2025 in Sepang, Malaysia, before the teams travel to Dubai (30 January and 1 February 2026) and Abu Dhabi (7 and 8 February 2026) for two races each.

Quotes on the ALMS season 2025/26:

Antares Au, Porsche 911 GT3 R #10: “It's a great pleasure to return to ALMS with Manthey. Together we were fortunate to have achieved a great result last year, for both team and drivers. We've also done a lot together since then, preparing for and ultimately finishing at Le Mans 24 Hours this summer. I believe this year's journey has helped me evolve and prepare for the new championship season. This will be my sixth consecutive year at ALMS, and the GT field looks to be the most competitive ever. It'll be incumbent upon us to leverage all we've learned and to aim for consistent performance over the coming six races. The challenge surely is big, but we are fortunate to be well-positioned for it.”

François Hériau, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92: “I’m really happy to join Manthey and Porsche for the upcoming ALMS season. As a GT driver and current competitor in the WEC, I have witnessed how strong the whole team and Richard are. I’m eager to start the challenge of the ALMS together with everyone involved and believe that we are very well positioned to fight for the title together as a team. That is the clear goal.”