Riley Reveals Wynn’s Throwback Livery

Photo: Brian Clear/BCPix.com

Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports will sport a throwback Wynn’s livery on its No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, in celebration of IMSA’s 50th anniversary.

Unveiled Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, the multi-colored scheme, made famous on Hotchkis Racing’s Porsche 962 in the late 1980s, will adorn the Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen-driven GT Daytona class contender this year.

It comes as part of a new sponsorship deal with the automotive technology company, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2019.

“We didn’t really want to put anything on there unless there was a real reason to,” team owner Bill Riley told Sportscar365.

“We were in the lounge at Petit and Tyler Hook [chief engineer] was going through [classic IMSA] liveries. We got to the Purple [Porsche] 962 of Wynn’s and Ben said, ‘Stop’. He said, ‘I do business with that company.’

“He approached Wynn’s and worked out a deal with them. Here we are, with a full sponsor for the whole year.”

A staple of the IMSA GTP scene through the late 1980s to early 1990s, Hotchkis campaigned a number of eye-catching Porsche 962 liveries, with the design on Riley’s Mercedes based off the color scheme the team campaigned in 1987.

John Hotchkis, John Hotchkis Jr. and Jim Adams combined for a fifth place place finish in the Rolex 24 at Daytona that year.

While a number of retro liveries were considered, Riley said Keating was in search of one that made financial sense.

“We then worked with AMG and Ben and they came up with a paint scheme from one of the Hotchkis Porsches of the day,” Riley said. “It all worked out.”

Riley is the first team to unveil a retro livery for the 2019 season, as part of an initiative from IMSA to honor its past in its 50th anniversary celebrations.

Photo: Brian Clear/BCPix.com

Photo: Brian Clear/BCPix.com

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