With an updated and expanded driver line-up, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is underlining its ambitions for the next successful GT season. The Mercedes-AMG family has been strengthened further by the new exclusive signings of DTM race winner Lucas Auer (AUT) and IMSA stalwart Mikaël Grenier (CAN). As a result, the high-class line-up for 2022 includes a total of 17 drivers who will support the international Customer and Performance Teams in selected race participations.

For Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, the turbulent 24-hour race at the Nürburgring ends with a podium result and two further top ten positions. The most successful GT3 from Affalterbach is the #7 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed car: with a rousing final spurt, Maximilian Götz (GER), Daniel Juncadella (ESP), and Raffaele Marciello (ITA) secured third place overall. Further down, Jules Gounon (FRA), Fabian Schiller (both GER) and Matthieu Vaxiviere (FRA) concluded the season highlight in sixth place with the team’s #8 sister car. Tenth place for 10Q Racing Teams (#40) with Dominik Baumann (AUT), Yelmer Buurman (NED), Kenneth Heyer and Thomas Jäger (both GER) rounds out the top ten results. The 49th ADAC TOTAL 24h Race will go down into the history books of the race as the shortest running because of an interruption of over 14.5 hours. The #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT car that had been dominant until the red flag was out was in contention for victory after the restart but retired following an accident while in second place. With the Mercedes-AMG GT4, the performance and sports car brand scored two class wins (SP10 and SP8T) by Customer Racing Teams Schnitzelalm Racing and BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR.

The 49th running of the ADAC TOTAL 24h Race at the Nürburgring started with a strong performance by Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. On Thursday afternoon, teams with the GT cars from Affalterbach were out for first qualifying. In the session during which the full focus was on running-in the cars and finding the right set-up, Nico Bastian (GER) posted the fastest time in the field with over 120 cars in the #6 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT entry. With the team’s #4 sister car in eighth place, another one of the eight Mercedes-AMG GT3s also ended up in the top ten. Starting grid positions for the season highlight with its high-class entry will be determined during Top Qualifying 2 on Friday evening. Three Mercedes-AMG GT3s have already secured their slots for this session: the #4 Mercedes-AMG HRT car, the #7 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry as well as the latter’s #9 sister car.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is heading into ADAC TOTAL 24h Race at the Nürburgring (3rd-6th June) well-prepared and with a strong line-up. The 49th running of the endurance racing classic will see eight Mercedes-AMG GT3s, four of them with extended works support, and three Mercedes-AMG GT4s from a total of seven Customer Racing Teams on the starting grid, which will feature 125 competitors in total. Following the promising final rehearsal during the qualification race at the beginning of the month, with four cars from Affalterbach among the best twelve, Mercedes-AMG now also wants to achieve top results in the upcoming season highlight at the Nordschleife and, if possible, secure the third overall win after 2013 and 2016.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport keeps pushing ahead with the expansion of its international customer sports programme and will be present in the DTM in 2021. In the reframed sprint series that will also be held with cars to GT3 regulations from this season, starting off at Monza in mid-June, AMG intends to add to its successful DTM history with eleven drivers’ titles, 14 teams’ titles and seven manufacturers’ titles. The current planning involves the participation of multiple Customer Racing Teams to compete for points with their Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

Founded ten years ago, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Programme also remains on course for success in its anniversary season. In spite of various races being cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation, the international AMG Customer Racing Teams were again able to rack up numerous victories and titles, seamlessly continuing their successful streak from the record years 2018 and 2019. In 320 races with participation of Customer Racing cars from Affalterbach this year, there were 69 overall wins and 169 class wins. In the course of the season, a total of 97 customer teams ran the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the Mercedes-AMG GT4 all over the world – more than ever before in the ten-year history of the programme. With their achievements at the race track, the teams and drivers collected more than 25 championship titles for the Mercedes-Benz performance and sports car brand.

The 72nd running of the Total 24 Hours of Spa ends with a turbulent final stage at a rain-soaked track. In particularly difficult conditions, Mercedes-AMG was able to achieve a respectable result. The best-placed GT3 from Affalterbach at the finish was the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT car: seventh place for the trio of Vincent Abril (FRA), Maro Engel (GER) and Luca Stolz (GER). A race that was marked by very changeable weather preceded the result. The #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP entry dominated the first half of the race. However, damage resulting from a collision led to retirement for Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS), Felipe Fraga (BRA) and Raffaele Marciello (ITA). In spite of the retirement, Boguslavskiy and Marciello managed to defend their points’ lead in the GT World Challenge Europe drivers’ standings. In the Silver Cup classification of the 24-hour race, two Customer Racing Teams came out on top: with the #5 Mercedes-AMG GT3, Haupt Racing Team secured the class win with Sergej Afanasiev (RUS), Michele Beretta (ITA), Hubert Haupt (GER) and Gabriele Piana (ITA). Indy Dontje (NED), Philip Ellis (SUI) and Russell Ward (USA) finished second in class with the #84 HTP-Winward Motorsport car.

This Saturday afternoon, the ADAC TOTAL 24h-Rennen as the endurance racing season highlight for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing gets underway. The initial position for a repeated success after 2013 and 2016 is very good: next to pole position for the #4 HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3, four further GT3s from Affalterbach will be lining up on the first five rows of the grid. During the race, Alexander Bodo will be facing a challenging job. The chief strategist in the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing team will be coordinating all the tactical interests from the operations centre. Given the changeable weather conditions that are to be expected, the right timing of the driver changes, fuel stops and driver changes in particular will be playing a major role. In the Mercedes-AMG Race Base, Bodo will be supported, among others, by weather experts who are on duty day and night. For everyone involved, anticipation for the race start is huge, even though spectators on site are sadly missed. To greet the fans watching from home, Mercedes-AMG has placed several fan banners along the Nordschleife that are regularly captured by the cameras. Moreover, the Customer Racing website (customerracing.mercedes-amg.com) provides a live stream with exclusive additional features.

With a high-class driver line-up, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport will be taking on this year’s 24-hour race at the Nürburgring (24th-27th September). Preparation at the Nordschleife was promising from the perspective of the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach: five rounds of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) resulted into a pair of overall wins and four additional podium results – expectations for the marathon event at the legendary circuit in the Eifel are accordingly high. In total, there will be seven Mercedes-AMG GT3s on the grid for the 48th running of the classic race, four of them competing as Performance Teams with extended works support. One Mercedes-AMG GT4 rounds out the strong Mercedes-AMG Motorsport contingent.

The Customer Racing programme having been founded in 2010, the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach is meanwhile taking on its tenth season of GT racing. The legendary gullwing, the SLS AMG GT3, already enjoyed early maiden success in its debut season and enthused teams, drivers and fans with its unmistakable design and sound in equal measure. From 2016 and 2018 onwards, the respective successors with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the Mercedes-AMG GT4 raised the bar for success even higher. In 2019, the Customer Racing teams seamlessly continued from the record season 2018 and celebrated over 40 championship wins. In the process, titles in renowned race series such as the Blancpain GT Series, VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring and not least victory in the FIA GT World Cup at Macau once again underlined Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing’s ambition to dominate in the GT segment.

After the 24-hour race is before the 24-hour race. That also applies to Mercedes-AMG. As the Customer Racing Teams left the Nürburgring, preparations got underway for the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race (25-28 July) for the majority of the Mercedes-AMG Drivers. During the official test days (2-3 July), the teams and drivers with their Mercedes-AMG GT3 prepare themselves for the GT3 endurance highlight and the (in)famous roller coaster in the Ardennes.

Mercedes-AMG is further expanding its programme for Customer Racing Teams and introduces the new Mercedes-AMG GT3. The car is a consequent further development of the globally successful customer racing car from Affalterbach. Next to its new looks, it comes with numerous optimisations that are taking the characteristics of the current GT3, appreciated by drivers and teams, to a new level. At the same time, they contribute to further reduction of the running costs and allow for the motorsport involvement of the Customer Racing Teams to be set up in an even more effective and profitable way. The new race car will be shown in public for the first time during the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. After an intense test and trial phase, delivery of the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the teams will start at the end of 2019. In 2020, the tenth anniversary of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, the car enters its first season of competition.

This year, six Mercedes-AMG GT3s will be on the grid for the legendary Bathurst 12-hour race (1-3 February). This is the largest presence to date for the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach in the classic endurance race that also serves as the season opener of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli (IGTC). In the field of 28 GT3 cars, Mercedes-AMG has the largest contingent of all manufacturers. Various teams and team co-operations will be running the Mercedes-AMG GT3s, all with a top-class line-up: next to the reigning IGTC, Blancpain GT Series and DTM champions, the driver roster at the demanding Mount Panorama circuit also includes four Bathurst 12-hour race winners.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport again puts the focus of its Customer Racing activities on the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Last year, the teams with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 competed in all four endurance races of the series for the first time and secured two drivers’ titles for the brand straight away: next to Tristan Vautier, who came out on top in the overall standings, Kenny Habul (AUS) was another Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver to win the bronze category title. In the manufacturers’ standings, Mercedes-AMG secured runner-up spot and an even better result is the aim for 2019. With this goal in sight, Mercedes-AMG has expanded its IGTC programme for this year even further.