Successful start for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport in GT World Challenge Europe at Imola 04.04.2022: GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup IMOLA 3 Hours Sunday, April 3rd 2022 For Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, the first season round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
IMOLA 3 Hours
Sunday, April 3rd 2022



For Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, the first season round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola ended with a double podium, a PRO-AM class victory and another class podium.


After an action-packed race with numerous safety car interventions and full-course yellows, the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Mercedes-AMG Team AKKODIS ASP ended up in second place overall while the #2 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry also made it onto the podium by finishing third.



 At the same time, the #20 SPS automotive performance car got the new year off to an optimal start with its PRO-AM success. The #5 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 secured another podium result during the premiere of the newly introduced Gold Cup as it finished third in this category.




•    Mercedes-AMG Teams #88 AKKODIS ASP and #2 GetSpeed secure double podium in opening event

•    #20 SPS automotive performance races to PRO-AM class victory

•    #5 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Haupt Racing Team secured third place in Gold Cup premiere

•    PRO-AM class podium for AKKODIS ASP Team in GT4 European Series




Seven customer teams and eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3s with high-quality driver pairings represented Mercedes-AMG Motorsport in the season opener of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup that was held in Italy in 2022 again. In contrast to last year, however, it was not the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza that served as the venue for the first of this season’s five races in total, it was rather the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, some 270 kilometres away.



In the usual 90-minute pre-qualifying on Saturday, marked by numerous incidents, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams immediately underlined the high ambitions with which they had arrived. Jules Gounon (FRA) posted the fastest time of the day with the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Mercedes-AMG Team AKKODIS ASP and was just half a hundredth of a second ahead of the #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Mercedes-AMG Teams GetSpeed that Steijn Schothorst (NED) had driven to second place.



Customer sport teams secure promising qualifying results in various classes


With their confidence accordingly huge, the two Performance Teams, each of them running in the PRO class, took on the three-part qualifying on Sunday morning. Gounon, together with his teammates Daniel Juncadella (ESP) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI), ended up in third position. In cold and windy conditions, the #2 car with Maro Engel, Luca Stolz (both GER) and Steijn Schothorst was held up by slower cars on multiple occasions and therefore didn’t get beyond tenth place in the combined classification.



The timed session in the various classes turned out to be more successful. The #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by WINWARD Racing secured the inaugural pole position in the newly created Gold Cup, the #87 AKKODIS ASP Team car (Silver) and the #20 SPS automotive performance entry (PRO-AM) each started the three-hour race from second position on the grid in their respective classes.



Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed benefits from unclear opening stage


As expected, the 52-car field delivered a turbulent opening stage that prompted a safety car intervention while still on the opening lap. Up until that point, Maro Engel in the #2 GT3 of the Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed had already been able to make up three positions and he was seventh getting lined up for the restart. Raffaele Marciello meanwhile defended his third place overall with the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3.



Some 40 minutes into the race, the safety car was deployed once more, closely bunching up the field again. The front-running group subsequently procrastinated the first driver change to the maximum of 65 minutes. Daniel Juncadella took over the steering wheel of the #88, Steijn Schothorst replaced Maro Engel in the #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Dutchman seamlessly continued the recovery drive of Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed and already found himself up in fifth position at the halfway point of the race.




Clever pit stop strategy brings Mercedes-AMG customer sport teams to the fore


Subsequently, multiple collisions impeded the racing action. Around two hours in, a large part of the field used one of these situations for a pit stop including the two Mercedes-AMG Performance Teams as well as the #5 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3.



This tactic turned out to be a lucky one. Jules Gounon drove the #88 Mercedes-AMG Teams AKKODIS ASP car into the final third of the race in second place overall while Luca Stolz slotted in immediately behind him with the #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Simultaneously, Arjun Maini (IND) started his stint in the #5 car in third place of the Gold Cup.



At the 4,9 kilometres long circuit with its long heritage, overtaking turned out to be difficult as usual. Until the end of the race, Gounon kept up with the leader, but was not in a position anymore to start an attack. Stolz and Maini also maintained their positions and each brought their respective third places home.



In the #20 SPS automotive performance Mercedes-AMG GT3 that had started the race from second place on the grid in the PRO-AM class, final driver Dominik Baumann (AUT) took over the lead in this class around one hour prior to the end. Previously, his teammates Ian Loggie (GBR) and Valentin Pierburg (GER) had been putting the leader under pressure for a long time, but eventually, it was a quick stop by the team from Willsbach that secured the deserved success in the season opener.



Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “We can be very happy with this start of the season. After qualifying, a double podium finish wasn’t what we had worked out for ourselves.


By virtue of an outstanding strategic achievement by our teams and a consistent pace, we managed to finish on the overall podium. Together with third place in Gold Cup and victory in PRO-AM, that is making it a great result. Many thanks to the teams for that.”





Jochen Übler, Mercedes photos