Second place for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and a class win for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife

The second round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring already saw Mercedes-AMG Motorsport claim its first overall podium finish of the new season: driving the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with starting number 14, run by Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON, Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Maro Engel, Manuel Metzger and Dirk Müller (all GER) finished in second place. In total, four Mercedes-AMG GT3 made it into the top ten of the overall classification. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 rounded out the successful performance with a class win in the SP8T category and another podium finish in the SP10 class.

• Second place for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 #14 of Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON
• In total four Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the top ten
• A class win for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the SP8T class and a podium finish in the SP10 class
• Mercedes-AMG GT3 #14, #47 und #48 already seeded for the Top 30 qualifying for the 24-hour race

Nürburgring – With perfect track conditions and in bright sunshine, the second VLN round at the Nürburgring got underway on Saturday at noon with six Mercedes-AMG GT3 and three Mercedes-AMG GT4. In the field with 182 participants, three Mercedes-AMG GT3 had secured top ten grid positions during qualifying in the morning. The Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON car with starting number 14 started the race from third place followed by the two Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER cars in fourth and ninth position (#48 and #47).

Maro Engel (GER), the starting driver of the number 14 car, already made use of this good starting grid position in the opening stages of the race and took his first turn in the lead on the second lap. Together with his team-mates Christodoulou, Metzger and Müller, Engel firmly established himself in the group of the front runners and staged a tight battle for the lead. With faultless pit stops and stints, the quartet was in contention for the race win until the very end. Only unfortunate yellow flag situations towards the end of the race prevented victory. After 27 laps, final driver Dirk Müller crossed the finish line in second place, only eight seconds down, and thus already secured Mercedes-AMG Motorsport its first podium finish in the second round of the season.

The Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER car with starting number 48 and drivers Indy Dontje (NED), Maximilian Götz and Christian Hohenadel (both GER) rounded out the good result with four Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the top ten by finishing seventh. The second cars run by Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON and Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER followed in eighth and ninth place. Yelmer Buurman (NED), Thomas Jäger, Jan Seyffarth and Luca Stolz (all GER) drove the car with starting number 15 while double starter Indy Dontje (NED), Dominik Baumann (AUT) and Edoardo Mortara (ITA) were behind the wheel of the #47.

Courtesy of the qualifying results in the first two VLN rounds, already three Mercedes-AMG GT3 have qualified for the top 30 qualifying of the 24-hour race from 10-13 May. The Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER already qualified itself with its car with starting number 47 in VLN 1 (fourth place in qualifying for VLN 1). The Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON car with starting number 14 (third place) and the second Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER car with number 48 (fourth place) did likewise in qualifying for this weekend’s second VLN round. The remaining slots for the shootout will be allocated during the qualification race and directly during the two qualifying sessions for the 24-hour race.

Mercedes-AMG GT4 with a class win and a podium finish In their second race at the Nordschleife, the Mercedes-AMG GT4 again showed a strong performance. In the SP8T class, Jethro Bovington (GBR), Christian Gebhardt, Bernd Schneider and Patrick Simon (all GER) were first across the finish line with the #155 car after 25 laps, Schneider having posted the fastest qualifying time in class for the Mercedes-AMG Team Driving Academy. In the SP10 class, two Mercedes-AMG GT4 were also successful: BLACK FALCON Team IDENTICA ended up in second place with Stefan Karg, Fidel Leib and Moritz Oberheim (all GER). The BLACK FALCON Team TMD Friction with drivers Kim-Luis Schramm and Alexander Kolb finished fifth.

Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON #14: “Dirk did a super lap in qualifying which already qualified us for the Top 30 qualifying for the 24-hour race. That was our primary goal and adds to the good preparation. As a result, one can be a little bit more relaxed going into the 24-hour race weekend. After all, during the 24-hour race, it is often tough and stressful to secure one of the blue lights. Today in the VLN race, I did the start. That was great fun and there was a good fight at the front. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 is really good to drive, even though we still have some fine-tuning to do. Subsequently, Adam, Dirk and Manuel also did a really good job. We are happy with second place. »

Dirk Müller, Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON #14: “Many thanks to the fans for their great support. The race was great fun. The battle was tough today, but I am very happy with second place. The final lap was rather difficult with a yellow flag and a crashed car alongside the track. I am happy that it all worked out well and that I was second across the finish line.”

Bernd Schneider, Mercedes-AMG Team Driving Academy #155: “Of course, we are really happy with today’s class win. This was my first time with my team-mates in the Mercedes-AMG GT4 and of course we tested and tried quite a few things. As a team, we were able to adapt to each other. The goal was for the guys to get a lot of driving time and to get used to the track as well. They have all done a great job. We as the drivers are feeling very well and we were enjoying ourselves in the car. The tyres still need some sorting, but we are confident that we will get that done for the 24-hour race. “

Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “With this podium finish and three further teams in the top ten, our dress rehearsal for the 24-hour race was a successful affair. It reflects the close performance level of our Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams. The race itself was affected by many yellow flags and for the drivers in particular, adapting to the changing situations was difficult. However, the drivers and the teams mastered this in an excellent way. Altogether, I have to extend a compliment to our customer teams who spur each other on to maximum achievements by exemplary team work. In one week, the qualification race is on as the final means of fine-tuning for the highlight with the 24-hour race in May.”

Result VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft round 2*: 

* excerpt, subject to confirmation by the organiser