A Dozen Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams Competing This Weekend in Season-Opening IMSA Races at Daytona
A dozen Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams are set to compete in two different IMSA sports car racing series this weekend at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) during the 56th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 24 – 28, which features the opening rounds of both the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.
Three Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries are racing in the weekend’s featured Rolex 24 At Daytona, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener, January (27 – 28), while nine Mercedes-AMG customer racing teams will combine to give the Mercedes-AMG GT4 its official North American competition debut in the four-hour IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race on Friday, January 26.
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams competing in the GT Daytona (GTD) class in the twice-around-the-clock race include the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 that finished third in last year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
The Daytona success was the springboard the No. 33 team and drivers needed to win the 2017 season’s Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) while helping Mercedes-AMG win last year’s NAEC manufacturer championship.
Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen return as the full-season drivers of the No. 33 AMG GT3 in 2018, the duo’s fifth-straight year together, and will be joined at Daytona by Mercedes-AMG driver Adam Christodoulou for the second-consecutive year. Luca Stolz is a new addition to the team at Daytona and will also partner Keating and Bleekemolen at the year’s three remaining NAEC rounds.
Keating, a winning GTD-class co-driver in the 2015 Rolex 24, is looking for his fourth-straight podium finish at Daytona. In addition to the 2015 win and last year’s third-place showing, Keating also co-drove to a third-place finish in the 2016 Rolex 24.
An addition to the Riley Motorsports operation includes this year the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and lead driver Kenny Habul. Mercedes-AMG drivers Maro Engel and Thomas Jaeger will co-drive with Habul at Daytona along with debuting Rolex 24 driver Mikael Grenier.
Also joining the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport customer racing entries at Daytona this year is the debuting No. 71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of team drivers Juan “JC” Perez, Kenton Koch, Robby Foley and Loris Spinelli. A race and championship winning team in the IMSA Prototype Challenge series, P1 is making both its first GTD and Rolex 24 team starts at the Daytona opener.
Koch joins Keating as a previous Rolex 24 At Daytona class winner, having co-driven to the Prototype Challenge (PC) division victory in his 2016 debut at Daytona.
Nine new Mercedes-AMG GT4 race cars, which compete in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge’s premier Grand Sport (GS) class, are entered in Friday’s four-hour season opener, with multiple-car efforts from Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport and TeamTGM.
Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport is fielding three entries, with Damien Faulkner and Russell Ward in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT4, Bryce Ward and Indy Dontje co-driving the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT4 and Craig Lyons and Kris Wilson in the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT4.
TeamTGM has two entries with Hugh Plumb and Owen Trinkler in the No. 46 Mercedes-AMG GT4 and Ted Giovanis and Guy Cosmo in the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT4, which also has Trinkler listed as a third driver.
Already Mercedes-AMG GT3 competitors, DXDT Racing and co-drivers David Askew and Aaron Povoledo will co-drive their No. 63 Mercedes-AMG GT4 at Daytona.
Former Continental Tire Challenge Daytona winners and series champions Jeff Mosing and Murillo Racing co-driver Eric Foss will make their GS-class debut Friday in the No. 56 Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The stout Mercedes-AMG customer racing Continental Tire Challenge entry also includes Stephen Cameron Racing and the No. 19 Mercedes-AMG GT4, co-driven by Ari Balogh and Greg Liefooghe, and the No. 92 Mercedes-AMG GT4 from Ramsey Racing for team drivers Mark Ramsey and Alexandre Premat.
Source: Automobilsport