• Race one: double podium and class win 
• Race two: class win and important championship points
• Overall and class wins for Mercedes-AMG GT4 in GT4 European Series 

The series of success for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport also continues during the second race weekend of the season in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe: at Misano, Raffaele Marciello (ITA) and Vincent Abril (MON) for the AKKA ASP Team with second place overall and Luca Stolz and Maro Engel (both GER) for BLACK FALCON in third place in the first race secured a double podium result. Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS) and Fabian Schiller (GER) celebrated victory in the Silver Cup in fifth place overall. In race two, Engel/Stolz came fourth and secured valuable championship points. Nico Bastian (GER) and Thomas Neubauer (FRA) claimed Silver Cup victory. In the GT4 European Series, Bullitt Racing and Leipert Motorsport again scored overall and class wins with the Mercedes-AMG GT4.

In the two qualifying sessions on Saturday, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams already secured themselves promising grid positions for the two races of one hour each at Misano World Circuit: in the first race on Saturday evening, four Mercedes-AMG GT3s started in the top ten, Raffaele Marciello behind the wheel of the #88 Team AKKA ASP car secured pole position for the race on Sunday afternoon with a strong performance in qualifying 2.

Soon after the start of the first race at the 4.2 kilometres long track, Luca Stolz already managed to make up some places with the #4 BLACK FALCON car from sixth place on the grid. As the race went on, he drove the Mercedes-AMG GT3 up into second place on lap nine and managed to rack up some laps in the lead before heading into the pits for his late pit stop. Maro Engel took over for the second half of the race. With its optimally planned pit stop, the #88 Team AKKA ASP car with Raffaele Marciello behind the wheel moved ahead of their fellow Mercedes-AMG drivers from BLACK FALCON into second place. The Italian, who had stepped in to replace starting driver Vincent Abril, showed a highly motivated performance in his home race and closed up to the leaders. While crossing the finish line, he was just a few tenths of a second short of victory. Behind him, Maro Engel finished an undisputed third with the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Fabian Schiller and Timur Boguslavskiy crossed the line in fifth place overall with the #90 Team AKKA ASP car to secure the Silver Cup class win. 

In the second race, Raffaele Marciello started from pole position, was able to turn down the attacks from rivals in the opening stages and gradually extend his lead. A safety car intervention just before the pit window opened bunched up the field again. As a result of communication problems, the #88 car was already in for its pit stop while the service was considerably delayed. Vincent Abril, who took over the car with starting number 88 from Marciello, dropped back in the process and eventually drove the Mercedes-AMG GT3 across the finish line in 15^th place. For BLACK FALCON and the number 4 car, the strategy turned out to be more successful. Having started from eleventh on the grid, Maro Engel first had to find his way through dense traffic before handing over to Luca Stolz. The latter put in an outstanding performance at Misano World Circuit by posting the fastest race lap and finishing in fourth place. That enabled Engel/Stolz to maintain the lead in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe drivers’ standings and BLACK FALCON to remain on top of the teams’ standings. Like in the first race, there was again reason to celebrate in the Silver Cup. With the number 89 Team AKKA ASP car, Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer worked their way up from 19^th on the grid. After the pit stop, final driver Bastian found himself in contention for the class win in seventh place and sealed the win by overtaking his class rival with three laps remaining. With this success, Bastian/Neubauer and the Team AKKA ASP extended their lead in the Silver Cup standings.

The next round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe will be held at Zandvoort, 12-14 July.

A pair of overall wins in the GT4 European Series
The Customer Racing Teams with the Mercedes-AMG GT4 can also look back upon a successful weekend at Misano. In the first race on Saturday, Bullitt Racing with starting number 66 and drivers Alex Lambertz (GER) and Romain Monti (FRA) came out on top against the competition. In the second race on Sunday, first place in the overall and class result went to a performance car from Affalterbach. Leipert Motorsport with Max Koebolt (NED) and Jasiek Kisiel (POL) at the wheel of the #4 car secured the third win for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport in the 2019 GT4 European Series 2019. Lambertz/Monti rounded out the podium in third place.

Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “Congratulations to all the teams and drivers. It was very demanding with the high temperatures this weekend here at Misano. In both races, we have shown a strong team performance and got ourselves into a position with a good perspective in the standings for the remaining races in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe. Congratulations also to the GT4 teams in the GT4 European Series on these outstanding achievements!”

Maro Engel, BLACK FALCON #4: “We can be very happy with both races. Our initial position for the second race was difficult, but we made the best of it and scored valuable points. It wasn’t an easy weekend, so therefore also many thanks to Luca and the entire team for the hard work!”

Luca Stolz, BLACK FALCON #4: “All in all, it was a good weekend for us. We are very happy to have scored points again to maintain our championship lead. We still have to work a little bit on our qualifying performance. Nevertheless, the team has done a super job. We now have to build on this performance to be in a position to win races as well.”

Nico Bastian, AKKA ASP Team #89: “The weekend started in a very strong way. We had a very strong performance with all cars in the practice sessions. Unfortunately, the qualifying sessions didn’t go as we hoped. From 19^th on the grid in the second race, our hopes really weren’t high. But with a bit of luck and the right strategy, we worked our way up and still claimed victory on the final laps. A nice way to end!”    

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