Mercedes-AMG “Highly Focused” on All-New GT3 Car

Mercedes-AMG is pushing forward with the development of an all-new GT3 car, making “internal progress” with the model that is set to replace its current product in 2025.

Head of Customer Racing Stefan Wendl said the manufacturer is “highly focused” on developing the successor to the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which is competing in its fourth year in Evo specification.

The German marque’s GT3 platform currently ranks as one of the oldest on the grid, debuting in 2016 before receiving an Evo update ahead of 2020.

Since its debut, the car has gone on to win many major global endurance races, including the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, Rolex 24 at Daytona, Nürburgring 24 and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Wendl said that Mercedes-AMG considered extending the car’s current lifecycle with a second Evo kit, following in the footsteps of the likes of Audi, Lamborghini and Ferrari.

“We thought about it, but we think it’s better to stay with the current product and stay with the current set of regulations we face with this evolution, which came into place in 2020,” said Wendl.

“We will support our customers [the] best possible that they go with us the way to the successor comes to the market.

“This is maybe the second question. We are highly focused at the moment on developing the successor car and we make internal progress, but [there’s] nothing more to say about it.”

The current Evo package is homologated through to the end of 2024, meaning an all-new GT3 platform from Mercedes-AMG would be introduced in 2025 at the earliest.

Despite the car’s age, Wendl added that he is ‘very confident’ that it will remain competitive towards the end of its lifespan.

“Also we think about what happens to the car even if we have the successor in place,” said Wendl.

“Still, the performance is balanced and managed. After a certain time span, the car will look old or let’s say classic. But you can see the heritage on it and several victories at 24-hour races.

“So we expect to have those cars even running when we come with the successor into place.

“Because we sold nearly 300 cars and this is a success story and they will not disappear. I don’t think so.”

GT2 Car Deliveries to Ramp Up from August

Wendl said that Mercedes-AMG is ready to ramp up customer deliveries of its GT2 later this summer.

The Mercedes-AMG GT2 recently completed its first Nürburgring 24, while Akkodis ASP delivered its first victory in the Fanatec GT2 European Series round at the Red Bull Ring.

Mercedes-AMG has been focusing on establishing customer support, including parts supply, for when more handovers are made off the back of those initial race entries.

“We are happy to start to ramp up the production from August, to deliver now the first real production cars out of the line to customers and are happy to see more of them racing now in the future,” Wendl said.

He explained that Europe and the U.S. are the initial areas of focus in terms of deliveries, adding that there is no “real platform” for the car to currently compete in Asia.

“It’s two-digit cars already sold and we are happy to continue this level to bring it to the world, present the car in the States,” said Wendl.

“Also Asia at the moment is not so focused on GT2, [so] there is no real platform to go to. I think we are focused on U.S. and Europe first, because also we need to ramp up the support around it.

“It’s very difficult for example, if you bring a new GT3, you have to do it everywhere at the same time. To bring the parts and the engineers on this level is not easy.

“So that’s why I’m happy with the GT2, that we can ramp it up a little bit slowly and that the expectation level of the teams is also moderate. I’m happy that there is some support.”