AKKA-ASP Borrowing DXDT Mercedes Amid Freight Delays

Photo: Sportscar365

Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA-ASP will use one of DXDT Racing’s spare Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo cars in Thursday’s test session for the Indianapolis 8 Hour powered by AWS due to a delay in sea-freight for its chassis, which may not arrive in time for the race.

The DXDT car, still sporting the livery of David Askew’s GT America powered by AWS entry, was transferred over to AKKA-ASP on Wednesday afternoon after it became apparent the team’s own chassis would not arrive in time.

According to technical manager Guillaume Andrieux, their car, which was sea-freighted from Europe, has been sitting at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia for the last ten days, although there is hope of it being loaded onto a transporter and trucked to Indianapolis for action later this week.

The U.S. has been struck with severe staffing shortages at ports leading to extensive delays for sea-freight arriving into the country on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Raffaele Marciello, Timur Boguslavskiy and late sub Dani Juncadella are slated to run in the DXDT-owned chassis this afternoon.

The delay in freight has added further complications to the team, which had to make a last minute driver change due to a visa issue for Felipe Fraga. 

The 85-minute test session is scheduled to get underway at 2 p.m. ET.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John