Mercedes-AMG Motorsport starts its 2018 season with a premiere: the Mercedes-AMG GT4 will be having its official competition debut in the hands of the first customer racing teams during the Dubai 24-hour race. In the Emirates, three Mercedes-AMG GT4 will be racing in the GT4 class while ten Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be competing in the two highest-ranking categories A6-PRO and A6-AM. Next to the first motorsport highlight of the season, the focus in Dubai will also be on a digital highlight: the performance brand from Affalterbach is launching RACE Scout, an innovative platform for the international motorsport community.
Competition debut for the Mercedes-AMG GT4
Ten Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the grid
Presentation of the new RACE Scout online platform
Dubai – It has already become a tradition that the motorsport season gets underway with the 24-hour race in Dubai. In 2018, Mercedes-AMG is not only celebrating the season opener in the metropolis in the desert, but also the competition debut of the Mercedes-AMG GT4. After an extensive test and development phase in 2017, the first customer racing teams will be running the new race car from Affalterbach in Dubai. The teams RACE Scout by Winward / HTP Motorsport (#84), Besagroup Racing (#233) and BLACK FALCON Team TMD Friction (#264) will each field one Mercedes-AMG GT4.
In the past years, Dubai has proven to be a good venue for Mercedes-AMG: in 2012, 2013 and 2015, customer racing teams managed to win the prestigious race in the Gulf region and added eight further podium finishes since 2011. Once the race gets underway in 2018, a total of ten Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be trying to secure the overall win for the brand from Affalterbach. BLACK FALCON has entered the cars with starting numbers 2, 3 and 7 while SPS automotive-performance is running two cars with starting numbers 16 and 24. RAM Racing (#5), Hofor Racing (#1), MP Motorsport (#19), HTP Motorsport (#25) and PROsport Performance (#85) will all have one Mercedes-AMG GT3 each in the race.
The Winward / HTP Motorsport car with starting number 84 will be sporting a special RACE Scout design. Thus, the car will be attracting attention for the new online platform that Mercedes-AMG is presenting to the global motorsport community for the first time in Dubai. In the upcoming weeks, the schedule for the developers includes an intense beta test of the application together with the initial users prior to the official launch in April, 2018, after which the RACE Scout app will be available for iOS free of charge. As a tool across manufacturers and series, RACE Scout is aimed at all motorsport teams and race drivers and allows for supplying or demanding vacant seats for race participations. The online platform, conceptualised in co-operation with Lab1886, is providing the global motorsport community with an optimal way of intense interaction.
Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “We are very much looking forward to the official competition debut of the Mercedes-AMG GT4. In the past season, we have completed extremely many kilometres in testing with the new race car to be sorted in the best possible way. Concluding the programme at the end of December, we did an intense eight-day test in which the first two production cars covered 8,000 kilometres each in Portugal. Of course, the challenge of having a 24-hour race in the desert of Dubai as the maiden race is huge, but we are optimistic that we will be able to have a successful race together with our customer teams. Our Mercedes-AMG GT3 customer teams have a very strong representation as well and will be competing for outright honours as well as the A6-AM class win. Thus, the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport family keeps on growing. Three Mercedes-AMG GT4 and ten Mercedes-AMG GT3, that is the biggest contingent we have ever had on the grid in the Dubai 24 Hours to date.”
Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams and Drivers 24h Dubai*:
Nr. /
Class
Car
Team
Drivers
2 /
A6-PRO
Mercedes-AMG GT3
BLACK FALCON
Abdulaziz Al Faisal (KSA), Yelmer Buurman (NED), Hubert Haupt (GER), Gabriele Piana (ITA)
3 /
A6-PRO
Mercedes-AMG GT3
BLACK FALCON
Khaled Al Qubaisi (UAE), Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), Manuel Metzger (GER), Luca Stolz (GER)
5 /
A6-PRO
Mercedes-AMG GT3
RAM Racing
Euan Hankey (GBR), Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), Remon Leonard Vos (NED)
1 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Hofor Racing
Roland Eggimann (SUI), Christiaan Frankenhout (NED), Kenneth Heyer (GER), Chantal Kroll (SUI), Michael Kroll (SUI)
7 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
BLACK FALCON
Rui Aguas (POR), Saud Al Faisal (KSA), Saeed Al Mouri (KSA), Kriton Lendoudis (GRE)
16 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
SPS automotive-performance
Lance David Arnold (GER), Dominik Baumann (AUT), Tim Müller (GER), Valentin Pierburg (GER)
19 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
MP Motorsport
Bert de Heus (NED), Daniel de Jong (NED), Henk de Jong (NED)
24 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
SPS automotive-performance
Antonin Borga (FRA), Iradj Alexander-David (SUI), Alexandre Coigny (SUI), Richard Feller (SUI)
25 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
HTP Motorsport
Brice Bosi (LUX), Indy Dontje (NED), Alexander Hrachowina (AUT), Martin Konrad (AUT), Bernd Schneider (GER)
85 /
A6-AM
Mercedes-AMG GT3
PROsport Performance
Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Charles Espenlaub (USA), Joe Foster (USA), Charles Putman (USA)
84 /
GT4
Mercedes-AMG GT4
Team RACE Scout by Winward / HTP Motorsport
Norberto Fontana (ARG), Christian Gebhardt (GER), Bernd Schneider (GER), Bryce Ward (USA), Russel Ward (USA)
233 /
GT4
Mercedes-AMG GT4
Besagroup Racing
Roland Asch (GER), Sebastian Asch (GER), Franjo Kovac (CRO), Cora Schumacher (GER)
264 /
GT4
Mercedes-AMG GT4
BLACK FALCON Team TMD Friction
Antares Au (HKG), Jonathan Hui (HKG), Kevin Tse (MAC), Frank Yu (HKG)
