The motor racing season is hotting up as Formula E enters the home straight and four F1 races are packed into the month of July.
- This is what happened: Results and facts
- News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams
This is what happened: Results and facts
- F1: Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finish third and fourth in the Austrian Grand Prix
- NLS: Two top-six finishes for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the Nürburgring Nordschleife
- International GT Open: Florian Scholze and Alain Valente win Race 1 at the Hungaroring
- 24H Series: Victory for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão
- GT Cup Championship: Two wins and a P3 for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Oulton Park
News snippets
Podium hat-trick: In an action-packed Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring near Spielberg, the two Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 drivers stormed through the field to finish third and fourth. Lewis Hamilton started from P8 on the grid and fought his way up to third place in the course of the race. It was his fourth podium of the season and his third in succession, following on from Montreal and Silverstone. Having qualified fourth, George Russell had contact with Sergio Perez on the opening lap, for which he was handed a five-second penalty. He then fought his way back up from P19 to cross the line in fourth place behind his team-mate. The 2022 Formula One campaign continues in a fortnight with the French Grand Prix in Le Castellet, closely followed by the Hungarian Grand Prix a week later in Budapest.
New York, here we come: The 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is about to enter a decisive phase, with seven races compressed into the narrow timeframe of one and a half months. Just two weeks after the Marrakesh E-Prix, the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team heads to New York City next weekend (16/17 July) for rounds eleven and twelve of the season. The all-electric racing series will be contested for the ninth and tenth time in Red Hook, a borough of Brooklyn. The 2.32km street circuit has already served as the venue for a Formula E race on eight previous occasions. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team made its debut on the streets of New York City last year. Going into the final third of the season, the battle for both World Championships is still wide open. In the Drivers’ Standings, only 14 points separate the leader Edoardo Mortara (139 points) and Stoffel Vandoorne in third place (135). Nyck de Vries (73 points) is in seventh place. In the Team Championship, Mercedes-EQ Formula E (198 points) occupies third place, just seven points behind leaders Venturi Racing (205). The New York City E-Prix is a double-header, with a race timetabled for both Saturday and Sunday (start time 18:04 BST).
Respectable outcome for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing at NLS5: Four Mercedes-AMG GT3s and one Mercedes-AMG GT4 competed in the six-hour race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series last weekend. Philip Ellis (SUI) in the #11 Schnitzelalm Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 reacted smartly to the lights going out and pulled off an inch-perfect manoeuvre along the pit wall to take the lead before the first corner. The Mercedes-AMG driver, who was alternating in the cockpit with Marek Böckmann (GER), Miklas Born (SUI) and Marcel Marchewicz (GER), then went on to defend first place in his stint and handed the car over to Miklas Born. However, a patch of spilled lubricant at Adenauer Forst was the undoing of all three front-runners who were obliged to retire one after the other at the two-hour mark. This also dashed any hopes Schnitzelalm Racing had of taking their first NLS overall win.
Meanwhile, Julien Apothéloz (SUI), Patrick Assenheimer and Luca-Sandro Trefz (both GER) in the #55 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Landgraf Motorsport drove a flawless race to finish the official fifth round of the 2022 NLS in fourth place. The Haupt Racing trio of Lucas Auer (AUT), Jordan Love (AUS) and Arjun Maini (IND) in the number 6 Mercedes-AMG GT3 crossed the line in sixth.
In only their second outing with the #177 Mercedes-AMG GT4 on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, Waldow Performance also claimed a second victory in class: Max Lamesch (LUX), Andreas Patzelt and Janis Waldow (both GER) won in the SP10 category as they did in the previous round of the season.
An overall victory and two class wins in the GT Open at the Hungaroring: Florian Scholze (GER) and Alain Valente (SUI) won Saturday’s race in the International GT Open at the Hungaroring. Sharing the number 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3, the Team GT duo started the 70-minute race from ninth on the grid and then proceeded to steadily work their way towards the front of the pack. In the same race, Alexander Hrachowina and Martin Konrad (both AUT) in the #25 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF took first place in the AM category. In Sunday’s one-hour race, Kiki Sak Nana (THA) and Adam Osieka (GER) in the #786 Mercedes-AMG GT3 followed up with another AM class win. Saturday’s winners Hrachowina and Konrad finished second, which was enough for them to hold on to their lead in the AM standings. Kiki Sak Nana and Adam Osieka’s excellent result elevates them to second place in this class.
First overall victory for CP Racing in the 24H Series: In the fifth round of the 24H Series season, the 24H Portimão at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, CP Racing celebrated their first overall victory in the series. Charles Espenlaub, Joe Foster, Shane Lewis and Charles Putman (all USA) in the number 85 Mercedes-AMG GT3 were caught up in a long and tense duel for the lead, in which position they eventually crossed the line after the full 24-hour duration. As a result, the US quartet leave Portimão still occupying second place in the overall standings.
RAM Racing went into an endurance race for the first time with their new Mercedes-AMG GT4, and despite having to sort out a technical defect on the #405 car at the start of the weekend, they still managed to win their class at the first attempt: Phil Keen (GBR), Katarina Kyvalova (SVK), Ian Loggie and Jon Minshaw (both GBR) crossed the finish line in first place in the GT4 classification.
Fightback earns Grid Motorsports first place in Super Taikyu: Grid Motorsports staged a gritty fightback on the third weekend of the Japanese Super Taikyu at Sportsland SUGO. Having started the three-hour race from way back in twelfth position after a rain-affected qualifying session, Martin Berry (AUS), Haruki Kurosawa, Shinichi Takagi and Daisuke Yamawaki (all JPN) in the number 888 Mercedes-AMG GT3 went on to secure a well-deserved overall victory. It was yet another impressive performance after their runner-up spot in the 24-hour race at Fuji. Endless Sports rounded off an all-round successful weekend with a class podium: Shintaro Kawabata, Ryo Ogawa and Riki Tanioka (all JPN) in the number 3 Mercedes-AMG GT4 finished second in the STQ class.
Top Three finishes for Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4 at Oulton Park: On the fourth weekend of the GT Cup Championship at the venerable Oulton Park Circuit in Cheshire, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing teams chalked up four podium successes. In the GT3 class, RAM Racing’s Callum Macleod and Mike Price (both GBR) took third overall in the first race, despite their #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 having been forced off the track at the start, which temporarily dropped them back to 20th. In the afternoon race, the driver pairing at last secured their second overall victory of the season. In the GTH classification, Chris Hart and Stephen Walton (both GBR) in the number 69 Mercedes-AMG GT4 fielded by Make Happen Racing made their seventh class podium appearance of the season in Race 1. In the second race, their team-mate John Currie (GBR) in the number 96 sister car celebrated his second GTH podium of the season. After four of seven GT Cup Championship races, RAM Racing are fourth in the team standings, just six points shy of third position.
