Engel: GruppeM Victory “A Long Time Coming”

Maro Engel felt GruppeM Racing’s victory in the Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours was “a long time coming” as the team ended an Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli win drought that dated back to 2018.

Engel, sharing the No. 99 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Luca Stolz and Mikael Grenier, triumphed in Sunday’s IGTC finale at Yas Marina Circuit by beating Team WRT and fellow Mercedes-AMG squad 2 Seas Motorsport.

The result marks the first time since the 2018 Suzuka 10 Hours that the Kenny Chen-led squad stood on the top step of the podium in the globe-trotting GT3 series, ending a dry spell of 1.932 days.

The team came close to wins at several points since 2018, scoring multiple podium finishes in the Bathurst 12 Hour and notably capitulating in the early phases of last year’s Gulf 12H after initially locking out the front row.

“It definitely has been a long time coming and I’m just really, really happy for everyone at Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM,” Engel told Sportscar365.

“They’ve delivered us great cars time and time again it just hasn’t quite come together. Today it finally has, so this is a great way to end the year and a great reward for everyone who worked so tirelessly on this project.

“Especially also obviously to Kenny Chen who believed in us as a team, even through the tough times.”

GruppeM’s Yas Marina triumph is a complete reversal of fortunes from the outcome a year ago, when both cars retired form the race within two hours.

“Last year was massively disappointing for everyone, having prepared intensely for this for this race,” Engel said.

“To have both cars out of the race after a front-row lockout you know was massively disappointing. But the lows make the highs all the much sweeter.”

The No. 99 Mercedes-AMG spent much of the race a lap down after an early pitstop issue led to delays, but GruppeM got back on the lead lap when Grenier overtook race leader Fabian Schiller in time to be returned to contention by the emergence of race’s third and final safety car.

“We just had the lap back and Mikael did a fantastic job in the middle of the day when he when he got us the lap back when he overtook the leader,” Engel said.

“Then we were hoping for that safety car which came but at the same time it came with a diamond opportunity for the No. 46 [BMW].

“So it kind of cancelled our advantage in terms of the pit stops but it did bring us back into into play for for the win.”

Pedal Box Issue Derailed Team WRT Victory Bid

After the safety car restart, by which time race leaders 2 Seas had dropped from first to third because of a brake change, GruppeM was trailing the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Valentino Rossi, Nick Yelloly and Dries Vanthoor.

However, the Belgian squad’s chances of victory slipped away when a problem developed with the car’s pedal box, which cost the team valuable time during a pitstop in the ninth hour.

As a result, GruppeM moved into the lead while Yelloly and Vanthoor were compromised for the remainder of the race as the pedals were stuck in the shortest position.

“I think it probably happened during [Rossi’s] stint and we’re not exactly sure what has happened yet,” Yelloly told Sportscar365.

“The mirror did fall off during the race so we’re not sure if that’s got lodged underneath it or the actual mechanism itself is broken. We’re not sure but either way it didn’t bloody well move, unfortunately.

“For me, we usually definitely have it six or seven positions further forwards and it was locked on position one, so even to Dries it was a struggle.

“After lap 11, my legs were done. I couldn’t even turn the wheel properly because the wheel of the car doesn’t go high enough.

“Legs were bent so pace-wise I was actually relatively healthy considering that, but the rubbish thing was the amount of time we lost in the pits because we came in in the lead and we left 15 seconds behind.”