Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing celebrates 1-2 in Circuit Paul Ricard 1000 Km

• AKKODIS ASP Team #88 secures overall win after dramatic final stage
• Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar concludes six-hour race in second place
• Further successes for the customer sport teams in the Gold and Bronze classes

The Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams have collected the first victory in the second round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cups powered by AWS season. The eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3s already presented themselves in an impressive way in the three-part qualifying on Saturday morning: the #88 car (AKKODIS ASP Team) qualified on pole position, the #777 entry (Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar) for second place on the grid. In the course of the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000 Km, both cars remained in the frontrunning group. In the final stages, it was Raffaele Marciello (SUI) who made the difference as he took the lead with the #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 following two successful overtaking manoeuvres. For the defending champion and his teammates Timur Boguslavskiy (FIA) and Jules Gounon (AND), this resulted into the first overall win of the season after 183 laps. Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz (all GER) of Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar ended up in second place, around ten seconds in arrears.
The six-hour race at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France was also a successful affair in the various classes: in spite of a five-second penalty during the race, Sébastien Baud (FRA), Hubert Haupt (GER) and Arjun Maini (IND) drove the #79 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 to victory in the Bronze category. The #157 Winward Racing car with Miklas Born (SUI), David Schumacher and Marius Zug (both GER) behind the wheel finished in tenth place and secured second position in the Gold Cup. Marius Zug made the decisive move with only ten minutes remaining. The next round on the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup calendar is the legendary CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, taking place from 27th June till 2nd July.

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