Mercedes-AMG Has “Less Pressure” After N24 Success

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Mercedes-AMG’s Head of Customer Racing Stefan Wendl said there’s “less pressure” heading into this weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa following a landmark result in last month’s Nürburgring 24, an event which he said was “a race for the decade.”

The German manufacturer has so far swept both opening Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds, following GruppeM’s triumph in the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour before Winward Racing claimed Mercedes-AMG’s first N24 overall win in ten years.

It came in a highly publicized event, in the N24 debut of four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, whose No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was on track to win until it suffered late-race driveshaft issues.

However, reflecting back on the event, which was won by the sister Winward-run entry of Maro Engel, Maxime Martin, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz, Wendl said it was more than just Verstappen’s race appearance.

“It was not just the weekend, it was the whole time period from the first NLS race to the 24-hour race, you still see me smiling,” Wendl told Sportscar365. “It was very enjoyable to be part of it with this group of people.

“It’s not only Max. It was the whole atmosphere around the two cars and that those eight drivers, they came together, they shared information, and they worked as a team.

“Yeah it was the No. 80 in the end winning it, lucky for us after ten years, we were very proud of. It would have been very interesting to have the No. 3 with Max also running for it. You never know how it would have ended.

“This was maybe one race for the decade or even more, and I hope that every spectator and followers of this race enjoyed it.

“This was a race of excellence and competition.”

Entering the third round of the IGTC season, which doubles as an extra points-paying round for GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, Wendl said the mood within the Mercedes-AMG camp is pragmatic.

“I think [there’s] less [pressure]; I don’t feel any pressure,” he said.

“It will be important for us to look on the championship points for Winward, but for sure on the other teams like GetSpeed and Verstappen, we’ll for sure look more for the single success.”

The German manufacturer has three ‘Performance’ teams in the field, each run by Winward, GetSpeed and 2 Seas Motorsport, under the Verstappen Racing banner, stacked with factory drivers.

“No Time” to Think About Verstappen’s GT3 Future

When asked whether Max Verstappen will be back behind the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG soon, Wendl said his driving future with the brand will be decided later in the year.

“I think for now, for him, there’s the focus on Formula 1,” he said. “The talk for next things will be maybe be part of the later stage of the season.

“So far we try to enjoy what we achieved at Nürburgring and [now the focus is] on Spa, which is also a very big race with a lot of cars and three Pro cars.

“We will try to be successful in many parts to hopefully be competitive for winning the race but also defending the championship lead in GT World Challenge.

“At the moment there’s no time for thinking about next year. This will for sure happen after Spa at the earliest.”

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