• High-class contingent with eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3s in Endurance Cup and five in Sprint Cup
• Season gets underway with 3-hour race at Le Castellet in France on 7 April 
• Jules Gounon: “I would like to secure the third title with Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed.”

Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing is taking on the new Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS (GTWC) season with a high-quality line-up. During the season-opening event at Circuit Paul Ricard, there will be eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3s run by six Customer Racing Teams on the grid. The 3-hour race at Le Castellet is also the first of five rounds in this year’s Endurance Cup. Both in the overall and in the endurance classification, Mercedes-AMG celebrated the drivers’ and teams’ title wins in the past two seasons. In 2024, the historic third consecutive title win is to be achieved, a milestone that no other brand has been able to accomplish so far.

Endurance Cup: four Mercedes-AMG GT3s aiming at overall race wins in the PRO class
The highly competitive competitors’ field in the Endurance Cup includes 55 GT cars from nine manufacturers, spread across four classes. In the PRO category, Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed will be on the grid with last year's champion Jules Gounon (AND), Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz (both GER). The second Performance car will be run by Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER with Lucas Auer (AUT), Maro Engel (GER) and Daniel Morad (CAN) at the wheel. Haupt Racing Team will also be competing in the highest category and will field the trio of Michele Beretta (ITA), Arjun Maini (IND) and Jusuf Owega (GER). It will be the first full season in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe for Expert Driver Daniel Morad and Junior Jusuf Owega.

A new addition to the line-up is Team Boutsen VDS that will run a Mercedes-AMG GT3 each in both the PRO and SILVER classifications. Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Thomas Drouet (FRA) and Maximilian Götz (GER) will alternate in the PRO car. 2 Seas Motorsport already demonstrated its ambitions in the Prologue and made its first mark with a fastest time in a session. The team is also making its series debut in the GOLD category at Le Castellet. The race at Circuit Paul Ricard will start on Sunday, 7 April, at 15.00 CEST. Last year, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams secured an impressive one-two at the circuit in the south of France. Further tour stops of the Endurance Cup are the famous CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa (26-30 June), the Nürburgring (26-28 July), Monza (20-22 September) and the Jeddah Corniche Circuit (21-23 November), the latter circuit hosting the season finale for the first time. 

Sprint Cup: season opener with five Mercedes-AMG GT3s at Brands Hatch Circuit 
In total, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS calendar consists of ten race weekends. Five of these will be held in sprint format, comprising two one-hour races per event. The first round of the Sprint Cup will take place on 4 and 5 May at Brands Hatch. Five Mercedes-AMG GT3s will compete in the PRO and SILVER categories. Making his Sprint Cup debut, Lucas Auer will team up with Maro Engel to race the #48 car of Winward Racing that will sport the iconic Mamba livery this year. Maximilian Götz and Jules Gounon will be in the second PRO car run by Boutsen VDS. The season opener at Brands Hatch will be followed by events at Misano (18/19 May), Hockenheim (20/21 July), Magny-Cours (24/25 August) and Barcelona (12/13 October).

For Mercedes-AMG, it is also about extending its winning streak in the intercontinental GTWC manufacturers' championship. This classification also includes the race results from GT World Challenge America, GT World Challenge Asia and GT World Challenge Australia. Since the introduction of the manufacturers’ classification in 2019, all five championship trophies have gone to Affalterbach.

Race Facts
Opening Circuit Paul Ricard: 1970
Circuit characteristics: 5.771 km long, 13 corners (5 left, 8 right)
Race duration (new): 3 hours (6 hours until 2023) 
Race winner Paul Ricard 2023: Mercedes-AMG GT3 #88, AKKODIS ASP Team (Timur Boguslavskiy, Jules Gounon, Raffaele Marciello) 
Distamce record: 183 laps/1,059.75 km (Mercedes-AMG GT3 #88, AKKODIS ASP Team, 2023)
Circuit record GT3: 1m 52.671s (Bentley Continental GT3, Jules Gounon, 2019)
Mercedes-AMG record Paul Ricard: 7 wins (1x overall, 3x Silver Cup, 2x Pro-Am Cup)
Mercedes-AMG titles 2023: 3 teams‘ and drivers‘ championships (overall, Endurance Cup overall, Sprint Cup Silver Cup)
Mercedes-AMG wins 2023: 6 overall wins (Brands Hatch R1, Le Castellet, Misano R1, Nürburgring, Hockenheim R2, Valencia R1)
Most experienced Mercedes-AMG driver GT World Challenge Europe: Maro Engel – 67 races (39x Endurance Cup, 28x Sprint Cup)
 

“The start of the GT World Challenge Europe season is always a highlight for me. The series starts the season with a representative field of over 50 cars from nine different brands. Of course, we want to defend the title once more. The line-up of our Customer Racing Teams is fantastic and the individual car combinations are extremely strong - that makes me feel positive. I am looking forward to a great season and wish all teams and drivers an exciting and fair competition.”
Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport

“I am happy that GT World Challenge Europe is now starting again. The series is one of the world’s most demanding GT3 competitions. After the two championships in 2022 and 2023, I really want to win the third title with Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed and my team-mates Fabian and Luca. In the Sprint Cup, I'm racing with Boutsen VDS, a new team. We have to work well together right from the start in order to be competitive.”
Jules Gounon, Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed #2 / Boutsen VDS #9

“I'm really looking forward to the GT World Challenge Europe season and I can hardly wait for the first race at Circuit Paul Ricard. I am convinced that we have a great team and a strong driver line-up. The winter tests were very prolific and promising, but of course you can't read too much into that. The important thing is that we were able to complete our full programme.”
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER / Winward Racing #48

“My anticipation is huge. I've been following the endurance races and the 24 Hours of Spa in particular for a long time. Taking part now is a long-cherished dream. It will be a completely different challenge compared to the sprint races in DTM. Here I'm sharing the car with two other drivers, which brings with it a new responsibility. With Arjun and Michele, we have a strong team, even if the other PRO entries from Mercedes-AMG will be the benchmark. But we can also be contenders at the front.”
Jusuf Owega, Haupt Racing Team #77