LMGT3 Champions Aliaksandr Malykhin (KNA) / Joel Sturm (GER) / Klaus Bachler (AUT) #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche, celebrate their victory on the podium.
On March 2, 2024, the FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 1, took place in Doha, Qatar. The race covered a distance of 1812 km and was held on a Saturday.
Klaus Bachler, driver for Manthey PureRxcing, expressed his joy and called the victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship in Qatar a “dream come true”. He drove the Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R #92 to victory.
Bachler has actively participated in other GT races, such as the ADAC GT Masters and the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, since his campaign in the Porsche Supercup in 2015. This was his first WEC race in eight years and winning in the new LMGT3 category made it even more special.
In his own words, Bachler said: “What an incredible result. It was my first race in an FIA World Championship [since 2016], so winning right away is simply a dream. Thank you so much to my team and my teammates. We put so much energy into this project and prepared everything meticulously. The first victory is secured. We still have seven more races ahead, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There is still a lot to come.”
Teaming up with Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm, Bachler achieved his first victory in the WEC. Previously, he came close to achieving this feat in 2015 during the 6 Hours of Bahrain as part of Proton Racing’s effort in the GTE Am category.
The GT3 platform has been widely used in various sports car championships around the world. As a result, the ACO introduced it as a replacement for the GTE formula starting from the 2024 season. The LMGT3 class made its debut in the WEC at the Losail International Circuit.
During the qualifying session, Malykhin secured the second position in the Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, finishing 0.807 seconds behind the TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81, driven by Tom Van Rompuy, with a time of 1:54.883.
As a Bronze-rated driver by the FIA in team #92, Malykhin mainly drove during the early part of the race to fulfill his minimum driving time. This duration was the same as Sturm’s, lasting 2 hours and 55 minutes.
By doing so, Malykhin took the lead in the LMGT3 class and, with Sturm’s help, built a comfortable advantage of up to 20 seconds over the second-placed car.
However, his lead was challenged from the middle of the race until the end, especially by the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR #27 team.
Meanwhile, Bachler completed two extra stints beyond the last one, which saw him cross the finish line just 4.866 seconds ahead of Alex Riberas.
