Few might have anticipated Mercedes to finish its first World Endurance Championship with a podium, however Maxime Martin, Lin Hodenius and Martin Berry’s second-place end within the Bahrain finale was no fluke. The venerable Mercedes-AMG GT3 was among the many pacesetters within the LMGT3 subject all weekend, each in race and qualifying trim, and the #61 Iron Lynx crew finally got here wanting victory by lower than a second. It marked a exceptional turnaround from simply seven months earlier, when Mercedes’ first WEC marketing campaign had begun in disastrous vogue in Qatar.
It has not been a clean journey for Mercedes in LMGT3 to date, however given how late the programme was green-lit, it was by no means going to be a straightforward trip.
It was in November final yr when Iron Lynx and Mercedes introduced a partnership to convey the AMG GT3 to the world championship. The deal between the 2 events was agreed over a matter of weeks after final yr’s Bahrain spherical, however this left the pair racing towards time to transform the automobile to LMGT3 laws, particularly with the season begin pushed ahead to February.
An intensive growth section adopted, as Mercedes labored to introduce drive shafts with torque sensors, change engine maps and reprogram the ECU for the WEC. Whereas prior work on torque sensors for the IMSA SportsCar Championship supplied a lift, quite a few different adjustments had been crucial, together with wind tunnel testing. It wasn’t till 9 February that the automobiles had been prepared at HWA’s facility in Germany, lower than two weeks earlier than the official ‘Prologue’ take a look at. Mercedes carried out a fast rollout at Hockenheim on 10 February earlier than flying the 2 AMG GT3s to Qatar for the official take a look at and the season opener.
“It was lower than one yr when [Iron Lynx team principal] Andrea [Piccini] and Giacomo [Piccini] contacted me for the primary time,” Mercedes’ head of buyer racing Stefan Wendl instructed Motorsport.com in Bahrain.
“It was onerous to get what was wanted to be on this skilled surroundings. It was an enormous problem. However I’ve to say that the ACO, the FIA and the expertise from Iron Lynx helped us loads to squeeze the same old occasions that are wanted to make the homologation, to run the wind tunnel and all these issues.
“Every little thing occurred in a really quick time, so it additionally left not a lot time in between to optimise the whole lot and to arrange the whole lot correctly.”
Early struggles
#60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3: Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Matteo Cairoli
Photograph by: Andreas Beil
Mercedes arrived underprepared for the beginning of the season at Lusail on 28 February. Being the one true newcomer on the grid was a handicap, and the compressed schedule added to the complexity, leading to neither automobile ending the race as a result of separate mechanical points. The #60 AMG GT3 turned an early casualty and though Iron Lynx managed to repair the #60 automobile after three hours, Matteo Cairoli, Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni weren’t labeled after they failed to finish 70 per cent of the race distance.
“With the lacking preparation and the lacking expertise we had, we suffered at the start of the season,” Wendl conceded.
“[After building the car], we instantly went to Qatar and had been in the course of racing. And we already had in our head that we [needed to prepare to] go to Le Mans the primary time, which is the largest motorsport occasion on the planet.
“In parallel, we centered on operating the automobiles by the championship with some new tracks, in a totally totally different surroundings and with new challenges we confronted, [which were] kind of on the software program facet of the automobile.
“There have been new issues [to deal with]. We have not been silly. We knew about challenges. We knew that will probably be a troublesome season, however we additionally knew that it is a multi-year funding from Iron Lynx and from AMG to be right here, and that we need to go stronger into the approaching season.”
Mercedes’ first labeled end got here at Imola (thirteenth and fifteenth), and whereas there was progress at Spa, it nonetheless could not open its factors tally. These outcomes had been onerous to just accept not just for Mercedes – a model so accustomed to profitable – but additionally for Iron Lynx, which had a confirmed observe document in endurance racing. However Mercedes and Iron Lynx knew they needed to settle for some early ache earlier than they might begin delivering huge within the WEC.
“Within the first two rounds, it was fairly onerous to see our automobiles all the time within the again finish after qualifying,” Wendl admitted. “That is one thing I am actually not used to. I by no means skilled [anything like it].
“But it surely’s a world championship, it is robust competitors. There are new options for the whole lot – the driving force pairing, the crew was new, and in addition the software program options. Additionally for the ACO, our automobile was new and we needed to adapt to the whole lot.
“All of the questions being raised to myself initially of the season [were about] how we take care of it. We gave our greatest. We put all our expertise collectively [with] our what we knew from different race collection, with help from our technicians.
“However nonetheless it is a problem and nonetheless there’s good competitors right here. That is why it isn’t straightforward to leap in and be there instantly.”
Driver adjustments
Mid-year driver adjustments additionally affected the steadiness of the crew. After simply two rounds, Berry was drafted within the #61 automobile to exchange Ried, whereas an harm for Schiavoni prompted a whole overhaul of the #60 line-up forward of Le Mans, with Andrew Gilbert, Fran Rueda and Lorcan Hanafin entering into the race seats.
Crucially, this meant that there was no gold or platinum-rated driver within the ‘yellow Mercedes’.
Requested if the mid-season driver change affected the crew’s efficiency, Wendl mentioned: “For certain, in a method. As quickly as you modify drivers, it’ll change the efficiency someway – to the nice [or] to the unhealthy. You might have stronger ones or much less stronger ones.
“But it surely was a step which was crucial sadly as a result of Claudio, who acquired a again harm. So there was no method round it, and I believe they [Iron Lynx] made the very best out of it.”
The turning level
#61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3: Martin Berry, Lin Hodenius, Maxime Martin
Photograph by: Rainier Ehrhardt
As Wendl famous, getting ready for Le Mans was a precedence for Mercedes, with 2025 marking the German producer’s return to the Circuit de la Sarthe for the primary time in additional than 1 / 4 of century. To spice up its possibilities for the French endurance traditional, it entered an extra automobile in collaboration with Iron Lynx, with Brenton Grove, Stephen Grove, Luca Stolz sharing the #63 AMG-GT3.
A chassis change prompted by a crash for Stephen Grove in observe marked an inauspicious begin to the race week, however Mercedes managed to get two of its three automobiles throughout the end line in twelfth and fifteenth locations. With solely full-season WEC entries eligible for factors, Le Mans marked the primary factors end for the #61 crew, Iron Lynx and Mercedes.
The upward trajectory continued after France, with Gilbert, Rueda and Hanafin ending tenth within the #60 automobile at Austin and the sister crew adopted that up with an eighth place in Fuji.
Then got here Bahrain, the place Mercedes emerged as a darkish horse from the opening day of operating. Each Iron Lynx automobiles made it to the Hyperpole for the primary time, with Hanafin occurring to qualify the #60 entry on the entrance row and Hodenius ending up simply behind in third.
Mercedes ran first and second in the course of the early levels of the race, and though the #60 automobile dropped out of competition later, the #61 crew remained within the hunt till the end. After a late restart, manufacturing facility Mercedes driver Martin pulled off a terrific transfer on the #27 Coronary heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Mattia Drudi to grab second place. It was a rewarding outcome for Iron Lynx and Mercedes after what had been a turbulent first yr of the partnership.
However even earlier than the Bahrain breakthrough, Wendl insisted the challenge was transferring in the correct route, even when the outcomes had but to mirror it absolutely.
“Yeah, I believe sure,” he mentioned when requested if he was proud of the progress over the course of the yr. “I might have wished we had been there earlier on the rostrum.
“We had some learnings to take, and what makes me optimistic trying into the long run is that we’re steadily getting higher and higher and higher.”
#61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3: Martin Berry, Lin Hodenius, Maxime Martin
Photograph by: Jakob Ebrey / LAT Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
Looking forward to 2026
With the rostrum out of the best way, Mercedes is setting the bar excessive for 2026. With homegrown rival Porsche clinching back-to-back LMGT3 titles this yr, it’s solely pure that Mercedes desires to problem for these honours.
Requested what are Mercedes’ targets for 2026, Wendl mentioned: “What else can I say [other] than profitable races? That is the place we’re right here for, and I believe Andrea will copy precisely the identical.
“We’re right here to win races. We’re right here to win championships and now it is a query simply of the time interval when it is sensible to realize.”
Mercedes’ associate Iron Lynx has addressed a key weak point that might considerably increase its fortunes subsequent season: its driver line-up. Gilbert, Rueda and Hanafin have all been dropped after the trio managed only one level within the #60 automobile. As a substitute, silver-rated Hodenius strikes throughout from the #61 automobile to crew up with WEC debutant Johannes Zelger and returning Iron Lynx driver Cressoni.
Whereas this implies the renumbered #73 entry nonetheless might lack a professional driver, the #61 entry has been significantly strengthened by the arrival of highly-silver rated driver Rui Andrade. The 2022 LMP2 champion will be part of the returning Martin and Berry, finishing a line-up that might make Mercedes a severe contender within the 2026 WEC.
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