Two-time Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS title winner Yasser Shahin has won on the international stage by taking victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 Class at Spa-Francorchamps with Manthey EMA Racing.
Driving the latest specification Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 Class, Shahin teaming with Richard Lietz and Morris Schuring won a dramatic third round of the series in Belgium after a mid-race stoppage.
A collision between Earl Bamber in the Cadillac Hypercar and Team WRT’s Sean Gelael driving a BMW M4 GT3 on the Kemmel Straight led to the race being stopped at just past the four hour mark.
Leading at the time of the stoppage, the Porsche crew were required to stop as the red flag came out and this led to the team being shuffled down the order when the race resumed.
However, fortunes changed when a strategy to preserve tyres and late fuel stops for the opposition led to a superb victory for the Manthey EMA trio.
“It would be nice if we had a bit less drama,” Shahin told Sportscar365.com post-race.
“Let’s just start with that. Look, it was a roller coaster ride. We’ve come a long way.
“It’s my first year in WEC, first year in a [Type-]992, first year in this format, and new to a lot of these tracks.
“So it’s just an amazing learning curve that’s only possible with great co-drivers and a great team. If I look at where we started this weekend, we really wouldn’t have had any ambition to finish where we did.
“But we made really solid progress every session, and by qualifying, we fully deserved and thought we could compete for an outright result.
“The start was OK. I had a very disciplined first couple of stints and brought it in in P3. We had a slightly messy pit stop, but Morris fought back to bring us into the lead.
“Then the red flag came and I thought we were done for. In fact, I was looking for earlier flights.
“Then we just watched it change, and then maybe half an hour ago, we thought, ‘Oh, there could be something here’.”
Shahin sits sixth in the standings as Le Mans awaits on June 15-16.