Mach 1 Mercedes-AMG to Return for Hampton Downs

Mach 1 Engineering will return to the GT World Challenge Australia field for the season finale at Hampton Downs after entering into a new alliance with fellow Mercedes-AMG outfit Tigani Motorsport.

The No. 96 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo has been absent from the grid since a one-off outing in the very first round of the season at Phillip Island back in April, after suffering an accident during a test session at Sydney Motorsport Park.

For its return at Hampton Downs, it will feature a revised driver lineup as Shane Smollen joins Ant Pedersen, who raced together with father Paul at Phillip Island.

It will mark Smollen’s first appearance in the series since the curtain-raiser, when he shared a EMA Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R together with Porsche Motorsport Asia-Pacific Selected Driver Dorian Boccolacci in that car’s only outing of the year so far.

“We had an accident during testing in Sydney, and it’s been a bit of a struggle to get the car back up and running,” said Mach 1 team owner Ricky Grey. “We’ve only just managed to get it back together thanks to the help of Tigani Motorsport.

“We really wanted to do the New Zealand event, and there’s been a lot of work happening in the background to make it possible.

“When we learned that Shane was interested, everything came together quickly – now we’ve got a strong pairing in Ant and Shane.

“With Shane, we have a highly competitive Am driver who’s had plenty of success over the years in GT racing, while Ant brings valuable experience to the GT platform at Hampton Downs.

“That said, we have moderate expectations for Shane’s first outing in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. We don’t want to put too much pressure on him, but we’d certainly like to be at the front of the field. The team’s confident both drivers can deliver some strong results.”

Tigani Motorsport team owner Nathan Tigani added: “We’re extremely pleased with the driver line-up in the Mach 1 Engineering Mercedes Evo for the round and are very confident about our prospects for the weekend.

“Ant showed plenty of pace during the opening round of the season, while Shane is a seasoned Am who has enjoyed plenty of success over the past couple of years.

“It’s fantastic that we were able to make this partnership work for the New Zealand round, as the stars aligned with Ant wanting to get his car back to NZ and Shane looking for another opportunity to race in GT3.

“I am looking forward to seeing how these two go together and wouldn’t be surprised if they managed to secure some good results.”