Maini Promoted to Mercedes-AMG Factory Driver

Mercedes-AMG has promoted Arjun Maini to its lineup of ‘Performance’ factory drivers, while Frank Bird, Felipe Fraga and David Reynolds have been added to the German manufacturer’s roster in various roles.

The Indian driver, who mainly competed with Haupt Racing Team in DTM and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup last year, graduates from his role as Junior driver to join the Mercedes-AMG’s nine-man lineup at the highest tier of its three-level system.

The nine Performance drivers are joined by five Junior drivers and five Experts as part of a roster of 19 drivers that was confirmed on Thursday.

Along with Maini, Lucas Auer, Philip Ellis, Maro Engel, Maximilian Goetz, Jules Gounon, Grenier, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz have been confirmed as members of the Performance roster.

Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Thomas Jaeger, who were part of the roster last year, have all been removed for various reasons.

Most notably, Marciello departed Mercedes-AMG after six years as a factory driver to join BMW, while Juncadella joined the roster of Corvette works drivers ahead of a role with TF Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

However, the Spaniard remains on Mercedes-AMG’s books as an ‘Expert’ driver, while Jaeger is the test and development driver.

Two of the new signings to the roster are on the Expert level, with Felipe Fraga and David Reynolds joining Juncadella, Adam Christodoulou and Daniel Morad.

Fraga, 28, has a history of competing in Mercedes-AMG machinery in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, GTWC Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

V8 Supercars ace Reynolds, meanwhile, has frequently raced the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in GTWC Australia and the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.

The third new signing is Frank Bird, who joins the Junior driver roster after coming out on top in last year’s Young Driver Test and competing in the Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours with GruppeM Racing.

He joins Ralf Aron, Jordan Love, Jusuf Owega and David Schumacher, who have all been retained.

“I am delighted that we are able to present a competitive driver line-up in 2024 once again,” said Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing.

“Building on the experience recently accumulated, we have a well-balanced mix of champions and endurance race winners as well as young, talented drivers who are eager to win.

“I am particularly happy that in Frank Bird, a promising Junior has presented and qualified himself through the AMG Young Driver Test. Together, we want to rack up wins for AMG in the most significant endurance races and championships again this year.”