Mercedes-AMG Hopes “Local Knowledge” Gives Suzuka Edge

Mercedes-AMG’s head of customer racing Stefan Wendl is hoping that the “local knowledge” of the Goodsmile Racing team will give it the brand a headstart in this week’s Suzuka 1000km round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

The three-pointed star heads to the famed Japanese circuit searching for its first IGTC win of the season after a bruising Nürburgring 24 and CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, with seven Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos entered, including three in the Pro class.

IGTC regulars Craft-Bamboo Racing and GruppeM are joined in the top division by Goodsmile, which is fielding an all-Japanese lineup featuring regular SUPER GT duo Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka as well as Toyota star Kamui Kobayashi.

Goodsmile already made one IGTC outing this year at Spa with the same driver lineup, meaning the team has recent experience of the Pirelli tires that will be used at Suzuka.

Wendl believes that having a team that is intimately familiar with the figure-of-eight track on its roster will be an advantage in terms of getting up to speed, considering the six-year gap since the previous IGTC fixture at Suzuka.

“For sure we want to build on this local knowledge, because since the 2018 and ’19, there have been two new generations of tire, and most of the cars were pre-Evo or different cars,” Wendl told Sportscar365. “The old data is not that useful.

“Specific set-ups, things they are using in SUPER GT, even if they are using different tires, there is a lot we can learn, and also from the experienced drivers who race several times a year at Suzuka, which is a track where you need to find your rhythm.

“I think it’s a strength of ours that we will generate a lot of data with seven cars, and that we can all learn from each other. Our teams and drivers will have some long nights to look through all that data.

“The Spa race was quite unlucky that they couldn’t finish; it’s a real shame for them that they couldn’t fulfil their dream of finishing the race. But they were quite close to the competition considering they did just two days of testing ahead of the race.

“I expect them to be way stronger on their home turf, also with the things they learned at Spa about the Pirelli tires, heading to another track that is ‘old-school’ and challenging.”

As well as the Goodsmile trio, Mercedes-AMG has another high-profile Japanese driver in its roster for Suzuka in the form of factory Honda driver Kaku Ohta, who joins Craft-Bamboo’s No. 77 lineup alongside Ralf Aron and Maxi Goetz.

Wendl said that a clash with the DTM round at the Red Bull Ring, which meant Mercedes-AMG could not call on some of its regular GT3 staples, meant it was an easy decision to add Ohta, who raced with Craft-Bamboo in this year’s Fuji 24 Hours.

“He was part of the Craft-Bamboo lineup since last year in Super Taikyu, and he showcased that he was very competitive in our car,” said Wendl. “When Craft-Bamboo came to us with this suggestion for the driver lineup, we agreed.

“Due to the clash with the DTM, we are a bit limited with drivers, so it was a good chance to bring some more experience into our Pro lineups. I’m looking forward to seeing how he performs and how he makes us stronger.”

Although Mercedes-AMG has the largest presence of any GT3 manufacturer in SUPER GT with five cars, Goodsmile was the only one of the brand’s GT300 teams to enter the Suzuka 1000km, and is also the only team from the Japanese series entering the race without a presence in GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS or SRO Japan Cup.

Asked if other Mercedes-AMG teams such as current GT300 points leaders LEON Racing had considered joining the field, Wendl said: “We had some brief conversations to see if there was interest, but it did not reach the stage of detailed talks.

“Team to team, there are different hurdles to overcome, such as exclusive tire manufacturer contracts. Also, our SUPER GT teams have very high expectations of themselves, and to be competitive without extensive testing on Pirelli tires and with limited preparation time, it’s another thing.

“I’m happy that we have Goodsmile for this race, and maybe we will see other SUPER GT teams join when the race becomes more established and finds its right spot in the calendar, being not too close to other SUPER GT races.”