Yasser Shahin and teammates take out new GT3 category at Le Mans

Former head of OTR, Yasser Shahin has taken the flag at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France winning the new GT3 class driving a Porsche.

Former head of OTR, Yasser Shahin has taken the flag at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, winning the new LMGT3 class driving a Porsche for the Manthey EMA Motorsport team.

Shahin and fellow drivers Richard Lietz and Morris Schuring led the competition by a full lap at the conclusion of the race, according to a report on the Porsche website.

It is the first time GT3 cars have been able to race at Le Mans, following a change in regulations.

Manthey EMA (#91), Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz and Yasser Shahin. Picture: Porsche

GT3, or Cup Grand Touring Cars, must be based on mass-production road car models, however the racing cars are heavily modified.

Shahin has previously won the GT World Challenge Australia twice and in May won the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 Class at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, also with Manthey EMA.

The Manthey EMA team’s Porsche completed 281 circuits of the 13.6km track.

The Shahin family developed and owns The Bend Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend and Yasser’s brother Sam is also a decorated driver.

“To be the first manufacturer to win at Le Mans with a GT3 race car is a unique story that nobody can take away from us,” project manager Porsche 911 GT3 Sebastian Golz said.

“It was a new challenge for us. Congratulations to the Manthey EMA team, as well, the teamwork ran brilliantly.

The Manthey EMA Porsche sporting The Bend livery at Le Mans.. Picture: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

“Things are also looking very good for us in the world championship standings, we managed to secure a lot of points.’’

McLaren started the race in pole position in the GT3 category, however faded to come in 13th while former Formula One driver Valentino Rossi’s BMW was retired after fellow driver Ahmad Al Harthy lost control of the car exiting the pit, with the car subsequently retired.

Ferrari won the outright Le Mans title in a 499P hypercar.

Shahin, who heads up his family’s Peregrine Corporation which sold the OTR convenience store and petrol station chain to Viva Energy for $1.15bn in April last year, could not be contacted for comment.

He agreed to stay on with Viva to help guide the roll out of the OTR model across Viva’s petrol station network, and is executive chairman of both the family’s Adelaide-based Peregrine Corporation and The Bend.

The OTR empire was founded by the family patriarch Fred Shahin who bought a service station in Woodville Park in 1984, with sons Yasser, Sam and Charlie joining the business and building it into a multi-billion dollar endeavour.

When it was sold the OTR network comprised more than 170 sites, predominantly in South Australia.

Originally published as Yasser Shahin and teammates take out new GT3 category at Le Mans