Grenier’s Rating Change Leads to Dienst Debut at Winward

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

A recent change from Silver to Gold rating for Mikael Grenier has resulted in Winward Racing revising its lineup for this weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The Texas-based squad has drafted in Silver-rated Marvin Dienst at the last minute to replace the Canadian driver after Grenier was elevated to professional status by the FIA following his promotion as an official Mercedes-AMG Junior driver.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class rules prohibit two Gold or Platinum-rated drivers in a three-driver lineup, with Philip Ellis already Gold-rated alongside the Silver-rated Russell Ward.

While new to WeatherTech Championship competition, the 27-year-old German drove Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos in both ADAC GT Masters and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup competition last year for Schütz and Toksport WRT, respectively.

“I’m delighted that Marvin was available at such short notice,” said team boss Christian Hohenadel. “I could hardly imagine a better replacement for Mik.

“He is fast, reliable and an excellent team player. He also knows the car very well.

“Sebring will again be a tough test for the whole team. The track is a martyrdom for the car, and more than 50 race cars, including the fast prototypes, once again mean a lot of traffic.

“The risk of mistakes is always present. But if you want to fight for the top positions in this strong competitive environment, you can’t make any. As always we will give it our best.”

Grenier was one of several drivers to be re-classified to Gold status after being placed within a manufacturer’s roster of drivers within the last few weeks.

David Pittard won his appeal to return to Silver status after initially being announced as an Aston Martin Racing factory driver before being termed as a “NorthWest AMR driver” by the British manufacturer.

Pittard will compete this year as the Silver-rated driver in NorthWest AMR’s GTE-Am lineup in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John