Mercedes praises Verstappen’s final stint: 'Without that small incident would have been way more possible'
· Yahoo Sports
Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, is incredibly proud of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’s season. The German manufacturer ended the GT World Challenge Europe season with three titles and a victory in the final race. Max Verstappen’s participation was also a major highlight for Mercedes.
Now that the GT World Challenge Europe season is over, Mercedes can look back on it with satisfaction. The team is taking no fewer than three titles back to Affalterbach: the overall drivers’ championship in the Endurance Cup, the overall teams’ championship in the Endurance Cup, and the overall drivers’ titles in both the Sprint Cup and the Endurance Cup. To top it all off, the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 won the race in Portugal.
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For Fabian Schiller, Ralf Aron and Maxi Götz, it was a victory they had waited a long time for. Wendl believes Verstappen Racing could have achieved more if they had not received a drive-through penalty. "It's always nice and actually not only for us as a brand, as a great owner, to have him that he chose us as his family to be here in the GT Sport with his team," Wendl told GPblog after the race in Portimão.
"That he was able to join his own team was even more fantastic after having him at Nürburgring. And I'm really happy and glad that he finished the race with us in the points, which was good. And actually without this small incident would have been way more possible. If you have seen him driving the last hour, it was a fantastic stint. And it was something to watch and to enjoy for everyone."
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is incredibly proud of Max Verstappen’s participation - Photo: SRO/JEPMercedes-AMG Motorsport is incredibly proud of Max Verstappen’s participation - Photo: SRO/JEP
Praise for Barnicoat’s stand-in performance
Funnily enough, the youngest driver in the Verstappen Racing trio was also the one with the most experience of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 chassis and the championship this time around. Ben Barnicoat, who filled in alongside Verstappen for Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon, was racing in the German manufacturer’s car for the second time: "Also Ben made a great job. I think I wasn't sure, but of course he comes into the championship, to the tires, to the car, everything new and he made a great job. He's a great driver and so I cannot complain about our drivers in general."
"It's a dream finale of a fantastic season we had, starting with victories in Daytona. Now ending up here, it was a victory, the first victory for GetSpeed as a performance team. Great, great achievement from them and they fought so long for it. At the same time we've seen such a nice race and a nice event with so many spectators here, a nice venue. I'm really enjoying it still."
Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed claimed victory in Portimão - Photo: SRO/JEPMercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed claimed victory in Portimão - Photo: SRO/JEP
A special victory for GetSpeed
For the drivers of the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3, it was a special day in the GT World Challenge: Fabian Schiller’s first victory and Ralf Aron’s first victory. Maxi Götz also had something to celebrate: his first win in thirteen years: "It's a great comeback from Maxi. He, as an old hand, is leading the car with the young guns, with Fabi and Ralf. I cannot be more happy than them," Wendl said proudly.
"They deserved it. For Fabi (it's fantastic) after winning the 24 Nürburgring this year. And now ending the season also here on the high is a great motivation over the winter to even improve more and coming back strong early in January again."