Richard Lietz told selected media including Motorsport Week that his fifth Le Mans 24 Hours class victory was challenging to achieve but under control from the #91 Manthey EMA team.
“Today, it was difficult but it it felt like it was good [and] managed by the team, everything was under control,” he said after his #91 crew started in P16.
“And there was not too much craziness for me in the car.
“We had a race mode, racing people, but [we were] backing off if we thought it would be tight [during the night and] I would say until the morning.
“And then from the morning on we went to race mode, fighting for position and for track position and at the end we were like, ‘Okay, we win it or we lose it.’
“And then in the morning, [you] start to make good track positions and it worked out.
“So at the end it was all in. I would say that this was key to survive the night, to survive the craziness with the weather.”
Lietz commented on what it felt like to stand on the top step of a class podium for the fifth time in GT machinery at Le Mans.
“To be honest, always when you were there, you were like, ‘This is really, really nice.’
“You know all these people. And it’s the one place you want to come back every year.”
The Austrian has taken five class victories in GT2, GTE Pro and has now LMGT3 Porsche machinery at the category’s first Le Mans appearance.
Lietz along with teammates – and Le Mans rookies – Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring charged their way within a highly competitive opening phase of the race for LMGT3 machinery, with heavy rain testing the patience, concentration and fatigue of the drivers during the night phase.
Nevertheless, the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 LMGT3.R encountered no reliability issues throughout with just the front brakes changed during the prolonged safety car period and held a comfortable lead as the 24 hours were completed.
After the crew took on their first win at the preceding 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps round, their championship lead extends further with a six-hour race at Interlagos on 14 July which will continue the WEC narrative into the latter half of the 2024 season.
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