Mercedes-AMG Motorsport to start its anniversary season with new GT3 car

For Mercedes-AMG, the 2020 season marks the tenth anniversary of its Customer #racing programme. After the impressive achievements in the previous years, the goal is for the success story from Affalterbach to be continued in the anniversary year. The #mercedesamggt3, newly developed to this end, comes with numerous technical optimisations and will already be making its official competition debut during the season opener in Dubai (9-11 January). With the Rolex 24 At Daytona (22-26 January), the next endurance #racing highlight already follows at the end of January, in which Mercedes-AMG intends to defend its title in the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, immediately followed by the Bathurst 12 Hours, the start of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. In the hands of the Customer #racing Teams, the GT3 and GT4 cars from Affalterbach will be doing everything to score titles and race wins all over the world in 2020 as well to crown the anniversary year.

• Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing is celebrating tenth anniversary in 2020
• New #mercedesamggt3 to make its official competition debut in Dubai
• Worldwide Customer #racing programme in 30 countries Affalterbach – 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 #mercedesamggt3 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.

This year, the Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing Teams will again be competing in high-class and internationally popular motorsport formats. With the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the GT World Challenge (formerly Blancpain GT Series), the North American IMSA race series, the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (formerly VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring), ADAC GT Masters and the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps, numerous renowned motorsport events are in the limelight again in 2020, next to many other race series in around 30 countries worldwide. Not least, the title defence in the FIA GT World Cup at Macau in November is at the top of the agenda. In 2020, the new #mercedesamggt3 and the refreshed Mercedes-AMG GT4 will be present as well for the first time in 2020. The Dubai 24 Hours (9-11 January / 24H Series), the Rolex 24 At Daytona (22-26 January / IMSA) and the Bathurst 12 Hours in Australia (30 January-2 February / IGTC) mark the start of the season.  

Mercedes-AMG and BLACK FALCON aiming at fifth Dubai victory
The new #mercedesamggt3 will be making its official competition debut for 2020 in the season opener at Dubai (9-11 January). Next to an overhauled design, the car also shines with numerous technical optimisations. Here, the teams SPS #automotive performance (#10) and CP #racing (#85) that are also part of the wider circle of favourites for success in the 24-hour race in the desert metropolis will be running the evolution version. The same can be said for the BLACK FALCON team that has already scored four overall wins in the Dubai 24-hour race (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018).  In the 15^th running of the #event, the team from Meuspath in Germany intends to add the fifth outright win with the #4 #mercedesamggt3 and drivers Khaled Al Qubaisi (UAE), Ben Barker (GBR), Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), Hubert Haupt (GER) and Manuel Metzger (GER). Five further Mercedes-AMG GT3s of the teams HTP WINWARD Motorsport (#84), MP Motorsports (#19), Team Hong Kong Craft-Bamboo #racing (#69) and Toksport WRT (#70 and #777) as well as four Mercedes-AMG GT4s of the teams Atlas BX Motorsports (#403), Ciceley Motorsport (#462), Leipert Motorsport (#410) and QSR #racing (#754) round out the line-up at the 5.39 kilometre long Dubai Autodrome. The race gets underway on Friday, 10 January, at 15.00 hrs local time (noon CET).

Mission title defence in North America
Hardly a fortnight later, the next 24-hour highlight for Mercedes-AMG beckons with the Rolex 24 At Daytona (22-26 January). Traditionally, the classic endurance race serves as the season opener of the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and therefore, it is here that the mission title defence is starting for Riley Motorsports and #mercedesamgmotorsport as well. In 2019, the triple of drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ title in the GTD class of the Michelin Endurance Cup was achieved with the #mercedesamggt3 for the third consecutive year. With the quartet of Lawson Aschenbach (USA), Felipe Fraga (BRA), Ben Keating (USA) and Gar Robinson (USA) behind the wheel of the #74 #mercedesamggt3, the foundation for further championship success is to be laid at the legendary Daytona International Speedway. The race starts on Saturday, 25 January, at 13.35 hrs local time (19.35 hrs CET). Teams already successfully completed initial test laps of the 5.7 kilometres long track during the three-day ‘Roar Before the Rolex 24’ test in early January.

Also at Daytona Beach, the four-hour season opening race of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will be held. Thanks to invariably strong achievements by the Customer #racing Teams, #mercedesamgmotorsport was able to secure its maiden manufacturers’ title win in the series last year and therefore will be starting the 2020 season as the defending champion here as well. During the season opener, there will be a total of eight GT4 cars from the teams Bluff City #racing / Autometrics Motorsports (#14), Winward #racing (#33 and #57), Riley Motorsports (#35), Murillo #racing (#56 and #65), RENNtech Motorsports (#90) and Scuderia 111 (tba) on the grid.

Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing: “Ten years of Mercedes-AMG Customer #racing, that is something really special to us. In the past decade, we have had extraordinary achievements and worked hard to secure a leading position in the international customer #racing segment. For our anniversary year, our aim is to defend this position and to reinforce it with further achievements. Like in the previous years, this season again includes many important races in high-class series around the globe, and in the odd series in which we just missed out on winning the title in 2019, we want to get the title back to Affalterbach in the new year. Traditionally, the classic endurance races at Dubai and Daytona are the start, with even more anticipation from us because of the participation of the new #mercedesamggt3. We wish all teams and drivers good luck in the new 2020 season.”