On 8 October Porsche AG announced that it had increased its stake in Manthey Racing GmbH to 67 per cent. The release states no price, names no seller and leaves out the figure Porsche started from. That figure is 51 per cent, the majority stake Porsche took in 2013 when Manthey merged with Raeder Automotive, according to Porsche's own 25th-anniversary history of the team published in March 2021. Brothers Nicolas and Martin Raeder keep the remaining 33 per cent, Diariomotor reported on 7 October.

Twelve months before the deal, the rumour ran the other way. German press reports in October 2025 had Porsche selling its 51 per cent, and Porsche's statement to Diariomotor on 25 October 2025 called them "completamente infundados", completely unfounded, adding that no sale was planned. Eighteen days before that denial, Porsche had announced its exit from the Hypercar class. "We will not be continuing our involvement in the WEC after this season," Michael Steiner said on 7 October 2025, as reported by The Race.

What the release says Porsche is buying

Manthey now sits inside a structure Porsche calls "Home of Sports Cars", part of a strategy titled "Sportwagenschmiede '35". It bundles three areas: Performance, which includes Manthey; "Exclusiveness (Sonderwunsch and Exclusive Manufaktur)", Porsche's personalisation arms; and Heritage.

Chief executive Michael Leiters then spells out what the larger stake is for. "We're thinking of special models in the few off-segment, performance kits and exclusive racetrack experiences," he said. None of the three is a race entry. The release backs the list with a count: "Since 2020, Porsche and Manthey have developed nine joint Manthey Kits," running "from the 911 and the 718 to the latest Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package."

Racing enters the text as the record that makes the name worth owning: "seven overall victories at the Nürburgring 24-hour race, six class wins at Le Mans", and "several FIA WEC titles and DTM championships". Leiters calls Manthey "extremely successful in customer racing". Nowhere does the release say what Manthey will race in 2027, or under what arrangement with Porsche Motorsport.

Who speaks for the deal

Three people are quoted: Leiters and Manthey's two managing directors. Neither Thomas Laudenbach nor Michael Steiner, the two executives quoted on the Hypercar exit, appears in it, and the media contact listed is Porsche's spokesperson for finance and IT.

The motorsport department has its own word for Manthey. Its Le Mans preview of 10 June 2026 ran under the headline "Porsche customer team Manthey to compete at Le Mans with two 911 GT3 R", the cars Manthey entered in LMGT3. When Porsche left Hypercar, Laudenbach said the company would "continue to be active in GT racing". Porsche AG now owns two thirds of that customer.

Martin Raeder's quote supplies the brief from Manthey's side: closer working will "further strengthen the bridge between motorsport and production vehicles." His brother's measure of the partnership is "13 years", which reaches back to the 2013 stake rather than to 1996, the year the team was founded.

The first output was set for the DTM finale at Hockenheim on 9 October at 13:30 CEST: two special models marking Manthey's 30th anniversary.