Winward Joins with Mercedes-AMGs for Auer, Ellis

Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner Winward Racing has joined the DTM grid with a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos to be driven by Lucas Auer and Philip Ellis.

The recent winner of the Rolex 24 GTD category will make its debut in the German championship this year with factory support from Mercedes-AMG.

Winward’s DTM entry will be known as Mercedes-AMG Team Winward. The organization was formed at the end of 2019 as a merger between Texan outfit Winward Racing and German squad HTP Motorsport, building on a previous technical partnership.

Auer will return to driving Mercedes machinery in the DTM, having pedaled the manufacturer’s cars in the series from 2015 until its final campaign in 2018.

After a season in Super Formula, Auer returned to the DTM for the 2020 season driving for BMW Team RMR.

His Mercedes-AMG Team Winward teammate Ellis is new to the series but has been a cornerstone of the HTP-Winward setup in GT3 competition.

The 28-year-old finished sixth alongside Raffaele Marciello in GT Masters last season and won the GTD part of the Rolex 24 with Russell Ward, Maro Engel and Indy Dontje.

“Even though we naturally have a lot of experience with GT3 race cars, the DTM is new territory for us and an enormous challenge,” said Christian Hohenadel, team principal of Mercedes-AMG Team Winward.

“We will have to bring all our energy and expertise to bear in order to be successful in this tradition-steeped racing series.”

Winward Racing joins Haupt Racing Team and GruppeM Racing in announcing Mercedes-AMG entries for the revamped GT3-based DTM.