Mercedes-AMG Motorsport has published the list of its official drivers that it will employ in GT racing around the world for the 2023 sporting season.
Some names were discounted and already left for the commitments of the series that started at the beginning of the year, but now we have a complete picture of the situation also as regards the division of tasks with the reference customer teams for the Stuttgart star.
Let’s start with the three new entries, which respond to the names of Ralf Aron, Jordan Love and Jusuf Owega, who join the ‘Junior Drivers’ group, joining the confirmed Arjun Maini and David Schumacher, still present in the DTM for 2023 and ready to take on the challenges of Endurance Cup in the GT World Challenge Europe.
There are 11 guys on the ‘Performance Drivers’ team, joined by Mikaël Grenier and Fabian Schiller. One of the first to confirm the extension of the agreement with the German brand was Lucas Auer, as well as Raffaele Marciello who is in the last year of his contract and will then evaluate how to continue his career, having made no secret of his ambitions to switch to the LMDh and LMH in the near future.
Philip Ellis, Maro Engel, Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Luca Stolz remain with them. Finally, Daniel Morad and Adam Christodoulou will be the two ‘Expert Drivers’ to complete the list of drivers, all employed between GT World Challenge, Intercontinental GT Challenge, DTM, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Nürburgring Endurance Series and 24h of the Nürburgring. Finally, there will also be Thomas Jäger, who will participate in the 24H Series and will also cover the role of Sporting Director in the DTM.
#79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3: Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, Maro Engel
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
“After a very successful 2022 for our customer team sports programme, we enter the new season with high ambitions. To this end, we have further strengthened our driver squad, finding a good mix of top-level experts and ambitious youngsters.” , said Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.
Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, adds: “For 2023, we have added some talented and fast guys to our strong driver line-up who, once again, delivered unquestionable, top-level results last season. With Ralf Aron, Jordan Love and Jusuf Owega, we welcome three new up-and-coming members of the fastest family in the world, who have already proven their talent and can now continue their growth as junior drivers at Mercedes-AMG. we are confident that we are in an excellent position for the new season and are looking forward to exciting times in motorsport and many successes together.”
On the driver side, Engel is highly motivated: “I am happy to face the season together with old and new colleagues. Mercedes-AMG has put together a fantastic and competitive driver line-up. Together, we want to achieve many victories and titles again this year , and represent Mercedes-AMG in the best possible way. As a veteran, my ambition is to lead and especially support our young drivers.”
