Martin: “All Risk” Approach Led to First Mercedes-AMG Podium

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Iron Lynx driver Maxime Martin says an “all risk” approach to the last 20 minutes of the Bahrain FIA World Endurance Championship decider paid off as he scored Mercedes-AMG’s first LMGT3 podium.

The second place Martin achieved in the No. 60 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo he shared with Lin Hodenius and Martin Berry meant Iron Lynx was able to end a tough debut WEC campaign for the car with a strong finish, its previous best result having only been a pair of eighth places.

A safety car in the final hour bunched the LMGT3 pack up and Martin was among a group of four cars battling for the lead that also had to contend with a stream of Hypercars lapping them.

The No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 was ultimately triumphant, but Martin finished right on the tail of Jose Maria Lopez after passing both the Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of class champion Richard Lietz and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi in the closing stages.

“We got a bit unlucky with the traffic,” Martin told Sportscar365. “The Lexus could make a bigger gap so we were missing maybe one or two laps to fight with the Lexus. The last 20 minutes was all risk and it worked in the end.”

Martin described the result as a “really nice” way to end the season and it followed the two Iron Lynx entries lining up second and third on the LMGT3 grid on a strong weekend for the German brand.

“We knew we were new in the championship, it was a new car and everything was new so we took it like a learning curve,” said Martin. “We put ourself the target of being better and better every race weekend and, at the end, that’s exactly what we did.

“We became stronger and stronger through the year and we finish with a P2. It’s an amazing reward for the whole team, for AMG and everyone involved and it’s really positive for looking forward for 2026.”

Iron Lynx team principal Andrea Piccini added that the upturn in performance “kept everyone a bit more motivated.”

“If you look at the last three races, I’d say we were as competitive as Bahrain,” he told Sportscar365.

“It’s just at COTA, the weather was changing so much that it was really difficult to understand the potential. Probably we were as good as here in COTA, a little less in Fuji but very close to that.

“Yesterday everything went fluent during the race, and we almost got the win. It always feels like you lose when you lose by eight tenths.

“But if they would have told us before the race that we would have gotten a podium and fight for the victory like this, I’m sure we would have signed it.”

Drudi Frustrated to Miss Out After “Crazy” Conclusion

The No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin was another crew that narrowly missed out on LMGT3 victory in Bahrain and Drudi bemoaned the Hypercar traffic he felt prevented the car he shared with Zach Robichon and Ian James from taking the spoils.

The Aston had a tire advantage over the leading Lexus, but was unable to capitalize and ultimately slipped behind Martin with three laps to go.

“After eight hours, to still be in a fight with that is quite crazy,” Drudi told Sportscar365. “I guess it’s been fun from the outside and also in the car was quite fun. We were pushing and we were not holding back, and it was nice to finish the season like that.

“We actually had the pace to win because we went by the Porsche [of Lietz] on the restart and I was actually catching the Lexus.

“I was starting to attack and then the Hypercar train came by and, to be honest, I got a bit unlucky with the traffic because they went by in some places where I lost a lot of time.

“Then Maxime got probably a bit more lucky than me with the Hypercars and had a chance to attack.”

John Dagys contributed to this report