The Home of British Motor Racing welcomes back F1. Meanwhile, the Formula E teams are in Marrakesh at the start of an intense run-in to the finale.
- This is what happened: Results and facts
- News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams
- Social media news: What’s new online?
This is what happened: Results and facts
- ADAC GT4 Germany: A brace of podium finishes for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the two races at Zandvoort
- IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship: Runner-up spot for Marvin Dienst, Philip Ellis and Russell Ward in six-hour race at Watkins Glen
- IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge: P3 for Mercedes-AMG GT4 at Watkins Glen
- NLS: Best of the Mercedes-AMG GT3s finishes fourth on the Nordschleife
- British GT Championship: Two wins and two third places for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 in two-day event at Snetterton
- GT4 France: The Mercedes-AMG GT4 wins Race 1 at Circuit d’Albi and delivers two more podiums on Sunday
News snippets
Silverstone, here we come: The British Grand Prix will be held for the 73rd time this coming weekend. 55 of the previous races have been staged at the Silverstone Circuit – the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’ – which is also the venue for this year’s contest. The record holder for victories on this track is Lewis Hamilton, who already has eight wins to his credit in his home race, three more than the legendary Jim Clark. The most successful team at Silverstone is Ferrari with a tally of 17 wins, followed by McLaren (14) and Williams (10). The Silver Arrows have triumphed on nine occasions at Silverstone, once with Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel in the 1955 season and eight times since their return to F1 as a works outfit in 2010. Ferrari’s 17 victories also make them the most successful engine manufacturer at Silverstone, followed by Ford and Mercedes on 14 each. The track record is a time of 1:24.03 minutes set by Lewis in Q3 in 2020; the fastest race lap to date was clocked by Max Verstappen in a time of 1:27.097, also in the 2020 season.
Marrakesh, here we come: The teams return to Marrakesh next weekend for the tenth round of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season. The all-electric racing series made its first stop in Marrakesh in 2016. Since then, there have been four E-Prix at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan, each won by a different driver. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team first competed at the 2.971 km circuit in its 2019/20 debut season. The Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan is part permanent race track and part public road. The race in Morocco marks the start of an intense run-in to the season finale, with seven races taking place within the space of a month and a half. Going into the Marrakesh race weekend, Stoffel Vandoorne leads the Drivers’ Standings by a five-point margin from Jean-Eric Vergne, with team-mate Nyck de Vries in sixth place. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team leads the Team World Championship by 16 points after nine of the season’s 16 races.
Top Ten finishes and class wins at NLS4: Last weekend, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing teams were back on the famous Nordschleife for the first time since the Nürburgring 24 Hours in late May, on this occasion for the official fourth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series. The 45th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen over a four-hour duration finished with four Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the Top Ten. The number 55 car fielded by Landgraf Motorsport came fourth, followed by Schnitzelalm Racing’s #11 and #2 in P5 and P6. Moritz Kranz (GER) and Janine Shoffner (GBR) in the number 9 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of GetSpeed finished eighth, a result that was enough for them to win the SP9 Pro-Am classification. Also celebrating a class success were Waldow Performance on their debut with the Mercedes-AMG GT4: Max Lamesch (LUX), Andreas Patzelt and Janis Waldow (both GER) won the SP10 category at the first attempt in the team’s newly acquired car. For much of the race, the number 6 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of locally based Haupt Racing was also on course for the podium until a puncture forced them retire around the three-hour mark.
Tough weekend for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing at Zandvoort: The third race weekend of the 2022 ADAC GT Masters turned out to be a disappointing one for the five Mercedes-AMG GT3s, in part due to an unfortunate set of circumstances. Because rain set in during qualifying on Saturday morning at Circuit Zandvoort, many of the top teams were unable to complete their hot laps, with the result that some of the favourites were obliged to start the one-hour race in the afternoon from near the back of the field. The one bright spot was a P4 on the grid for the number 90 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Madpanda Motorsport. They were one of only a few teams that opted for wet weather tyres at the start of the race, which was a factor in them taking the lead after the first corner. But as the track was drying quickly, Ezequiel Perez Companc (ARG) had to come into the pits for slicks after only two laps, which dropped them out of the points-scoring positions. Things went a little better on Sunday, despite relatively chaotic conditions on track. Jules Gounon (FRA) and Fabian Schiller (GER) worked their way up from 16th on the grid to seventh. The MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF duo of Frank Bird (GBR) and Elias Seppänen (FIN), who were driving the number 84 GT3 in the distinctive Mamba livery for the first time, also contributed a Top Ten finish with ninth place.
In the support programme at least, the Customer Racing teams enjoyed podium successes. Julian Hanses and Theo Oeverhaus (both GER) sharing the cockpit of the number 85 CV Performance Group Mercedes-AMG GT4 finished third overall in both ADAC GT4 Germany races.
Two lights-to-flag victories for RAM Racing in the British GT at Snetterton: RAM Racing claimed wins two and three of the season on the fourth British GT Championship weekend at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit. In the first of two one-hour races on Sunday, Ian Loggie and Callum MacLeod (both GBR) in the #6 Mercedes-AMG GT3 took a commanding win from pole position. Another lights-to-flag victory was delivered by their teammates Ulysse de Pauw (BEL) and John Ferguson (IRL), who won the second race of the weekend in the #15 sister car. Loggie extended his lead in the drivers’ championship with the win, and RAM Racing took another big step towards the team championship with this result; they take a lead of 55 points over their closest pursuer into the seventh round which is to be held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on 24th July.
AKKODIS ASP take overall victory in GT4 France at Circuit d’Albi: Hugo Chevalier and Enzo Joulié (both FRA) secured their second win of the season on the third race weekend of the 2022 GT4 France which was hosted by Circuit d’Albi. The duo in the number 87 Mercedes-AMG GT4 fielded by AKKODIS ASP won Saturday’s one-hour race. On Sunday, the French squad reprised their performance from the previous day with another podium finish as Thomas Drouet and Paul Evrard (both FRA) in the #88 sister car took second place. Third place went to Olivier Jouffret and Eric Tremoulet (both FRA) in the #64 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Team Jouffruit by Vic’Team.
Social Media News
#Goodwood: Esteban Gutierrez took the W10 on a demo outing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, during which he drove it up the famous hill section as well as performing plenty of donuts and burnouts. Here’s what it looked like from his perspective in the cockpit.
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=78oVFDfEFj8
#F1RaceDebrief: In our Akkodis F1 Race Debrief, Mike Elliott talks about the key issues to have emerged from the Canadian GP, including the decision to use slicks in Q3, downforce levels, pit strategies and much more besides.
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f7CRAUxr4k
