Back in May of this year, it was announced that you would be able to spec your Porsche with Manthey Racing packages as a Tequipment option. Meaning these previously aftermarket kits would be considered factory parts, and a Manthey Racing Porsche would be considered a production vehicle. This was not particularly big news in North America, as Manthey Racing does not have a large presence over here. In fact, the availability of these packages as Tequipment options currently only applies to the European market. This is however something to be excited about; or at least interested in. Here is why:
Firstly, what is Manthey Racing? Manthey Racing, or MR for short, is a German motorsport team. Over the last 25 years MR has experienced great successes in racing Porsche’s across different classes and formats. Being located close to the Nurburgring, most of their success came in setting Ring records and winning the famed 24 hours of Nurburgring endurance races. Eventually MR would go on to support Porsche’s official entry to the FIA WEC series, and in 2013 Porsche took a majority share in MR. Since Porsche’s ownership, MR has produced a series of significant cars. The 911 RSR which successfully competes in GT racing, the GT3 RS MR, the GT4 Clubsport MR, and the GT2 RS MR which set the street car record for the Nurburgring back in 2018.
This was all well and good for Porsche. Their racing needs were satisfied by MR, and the regular production version of the GT2 RS was still the Nurburgring record holder. This all changed in November of 2020, when the Mercedes AMG GT Black-Series took a second off of the GT2 RS’s lap time. While the MR version of the GT2 RS was capable of beating the AMG’s time, it was still considered a modified street car and not a production car. So in May of 2021, Porsche announced that the MR package for the GT2 RS would be available as a factory Tequipment option. One month later, Porsche went out on a damp day and set a new production car record at the Nurburgring in their newest production car - the GT2 RS MR.
So what does this mean for Porsche Customers? If you are in Europe, it means you can add the MR package to the 991.2 GT3 RS, GT2 RS, or 718 GT4. The MR package removes the compromises that GT cars make for the sake of street drivability, and turns them into track focussed weapons. For us in North America, the MR kit will be made available for the GT2 RS starting in 2022. While this is a rather insignificant addition given the volume of GT2’s, we hope to see the full catalogue of MR products make their way over here in the near future.
Written August 2021