Stolz: First Le Mans Outing Since 2018 a “Huge Pleasure”

Factory Mercedes-AMG driver Luca Stolz says it is a “huge pleasure” to be back in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since 2018 as he prepares for a one-off outing in the FIA World Endurance Championship blue riband with the Iron Lynx LMGT3 team.

Stolz is making his return to Le Mans after a seven-year absence as he joins father-and-son pairing Stephen and Brenton Grove at the wheel of the additional No. 63 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that joins the regular Iron Lynx entries for the French classic.

The German driver’s only previous outing came in 2018, when he shared a Risi Competizione-prepared Ferrari 488 GTE with Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen entered under the Keating Motorsports banner, finishing third in GTE-Am.

Since then, Stolz has focused virtually exclusively on his GT3 duties for Mercedes-AMG, most notably in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the DTM.

But Mercedes-AMG entering WEC for the first time this year, plus Iron Lynx earning an extra entry courtesy of winning last year’s European Le Mans Series title in LMGT3, opened the door for Stolz to make his Le Mans comeback with the Groves.

“It’s really cool for me,” Stolz told Sportscar365. “It was a bit of a last-minute thing because I am not doing the WEC, so it’s really cool to be back at Le Mans.

“It’s a huge pleasure to be here and represent Mercedes-AMG. It didn’t look super-strong for them in WEC so far, but I hope we can have a good weekend.”

Explaining how the chance to join the Groves came up, Stolz added: “I met them in Australia because I used to race for Triple Eight Race Engineering [in the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour and GTWC Asia powered by AWS] and they introduced me to them.

“They are really nice people. Brenton is a good Silver and Stephen is a good Bronze, so I think the lineup should be strong. Hopefully we can have a good run.

“The last few years have been influenced by weather. This weekend it looks like it will be dry, so we will need pace. But we definitely need a clean race with no penalties or mistakes. If we can do that, I think we could be on the podium.”

Stolz admitted that no longer being on the DTM grid this year was an “advantage” in sealing the ride with several of his Mercedes-AMG factory stablemates tied up for last weekend’s test day due to a clash with the Zandvoort round of the German series.

The 29-year-old described his first Le Mans outing in the Keating Ferrari as a “nice experience” but said there had never been the opportunity to go back to the Circuit de la Sarthe in between his other commitments for Mercedes-AMG.

“At the end it was never really possible,” he said. “I wanted to do LMP2 but I could never find a deal that made sense.

“But I have followed the race every year because for me it’s the biggest race. With all the Hypercars here, it’s cool to be part of.”

Asked whether a full-time WEC seat with Mercedes-AMG would interest him, Stolz replied: “For sure. You always have to see how things go with clashes; this year it wasn’t possible, but next year maybe.

“I have to say the WEC calendar is nice because they go to so many nice places. So it would be cool to do it full-time.”