Winward Racing triumphs in Arabia
Victory and championship title for Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Daniel Morad at the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe finale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER swept the board at the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS finale in Saudi Arabia. With their commanding win in the 6-hour race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Lucas Auer (30, Kufstein/Austria) and Maro Engel (39, Monaco), strongly supported by co-driver Daniel Morad (34, Markham/Canada), also clinched the overall championship in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by Winward Racing. For the team from Altendiez it was the third title in the series, which consists of five sprint and five endurance events, after Engel and Auer won the Sprint Cup and Daan Arrow, Colin Caresani and Tanart Sathienthirakul secured the Endurance Silver Cup early.
The situation for the German-Texan squad had worsened dramatically just days before the big showdown. First, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 was badly damaged in a testing accident on Thursday morning and the WWR mechanics put it back on its wheels in a real tour de force. Second, the WRT team’s protest against the classification of the first race at the Sprint Cup finale in Barcelona was upheld. As a result, Auer and Engel each lost 8.5 points in the standings, which increased their deficit to the Belgians Weerts/Vanthoor to 15.5 points before the Jeddah weekend. That made one thing clear: a podium for the “MANN-FILTER Mamba” was a must before any calculations could even begin.
No sooner said than done. Throughout the six-hour chase on the 6.1-kilometre street circuit on the shores of the Red Sea, extremely demanding with its 27 corners, the WWR trio always had things under control in the field of 47 GT3 cars from nine different brands. Starting from sixth on the grid, opening driver Morad handed the #48 car over in second place after his double stint to team-mate Auer, who took the lead for the first time after about two and a half hours and extended it to more than 14 seconds over his two stints. Closing driver Engel then increased the gap to the chasers further and did not let a safety car phase half an hour before the end throw him off. At the finish, the yellow-green Mercedes-AMG GT3 was almost eight seconds ahead.
Because their Belgian title rivals only finished fourth, Engel and Auer moved ahead in the standings and secured their second joint championship of the year by just 2.5 points. Maro Engel passed the congratulations on to his mechanics: “On Thursday our weekend seemed to be over, but the guys got the car back together with a fantastic effort. We can’t thank them enough for that.” Lucas Auer agreed: “Once again the guys did a great job and made this success possible in the first place. It’s unbelievable!” Daniel Morad added: “The team put so much heart and soul into this season that the win and the title for Maro and Luggi were simply the best way to repay their huge commitment.”
“That was a real test of nerves,” admitted Winward team principal Christian Hohenadel. “Luggi, Maro and Daniel, like the whole team, did an outstanding job and thoroughly deserved to win the race. But until the last lap it wasn’t clear whether it would be enough for the title. The fact that it worked out in the end and we’ve won our third title within a year makes me happy and proud. My praise and thanks go to the whole team for a great job throughout the season.”
Winward Racing makes its Asian Le Mans Series debut
There is not much time for the Winward crew to celebrate, though. Next weekend the first of three outings in the Asian Le Mans Series is on the programme in Sepang, Malaysia. The two Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be driven by Engel, Sergey Stolyarov and Victor Shaytar, and by Jules Gounon, Rinat Salikhov and Gabriele Piana. The further ALMS events take place on 8/9 February in Dubai and a week later at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Two 4-hour races are held at each race weekend. In addition, after the turn of the year WWR will start in the endurance races organised by Dutch promoter Creventic in Dubai (11/12 January, 24h) and Abu Dhabi (19 January, 6h). The driver line-ups will be announced at a later date.