Mercedes-Benz Media Newsroom USA

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Team JMF Motorsports and Mercedes-AMG Bring Extended GT World Challenge Championship Points Leads to Season Finale After Second-Place Finish in Alabama

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Team JMF Motorsports and Mercedes-AMG Bring Extended SRO GT World Challenge America Championship Points Leads to Next Month’s Season-Ending Indianapolis 8 Hour at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A Second-Place Overall and Pro Class Finish in Sunday’s Three-Hour GT World Challenge America Race at Barber Motorsports Park by Co-Drivers Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier and the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Team Increased Their Driver and Team Championship Leads to Nine Points, 114 – 105, Over the Nearest Challengers. Season-Long Success has also Given Mercedes-AMG a 14-Point Lead in the GTWCA Manufacturer Championship Standings, 114 – 100, Ahead of the Closest Contenders.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – A second-straight overall and second-place Pro class finish by Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing team JMF Motorsports and co-drivers Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park gave the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 team and its driver duo an expanded SRO GT World Challenge America Championship points lead heading into next month’s season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Starting and early race-leading driver Stephens and no-quit closer Grenier joined the No. 34 team in bringing a four-point championship lead after last month’s most recent race at Road America to Alabama this weekend where they more than doubled the leading margin to nine markers, 114 – 105.

Meanwhile, a season of success has also seen Mercedes-AMG build a GTWCA manufacturer championship lead going into the Indianapolis finale, 14 points clear of the nearest challenger, 114 – 100.

The Pro class No. 34 team delivered the top finishing result of the three Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries competing at Barber Motorsports Park. Their Pro-Am division teammates Jason Daskalos and Philip Ellis finished fifth in class in the No. 27 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 after some pit stop issues. Road America winners Brayton Williams and Daniel Morad and the No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 battled in the Pro-Am top three in the opening two hours of the race before retiring in the final 30 minutes.

A trio of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams contested the twin Pirelli GT4 America races at Barber and all three made a competitive mark on the weekend. The Dome Motorsport No. 37 Mercedes-AMG GT4 Am entry of Eddie Killeen and Laura Hayes and the Pro-Am class competing No. 40 Off-Leash Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Kevin Clifford and Harry Gottsacker each scored weekend-best fourth-place finishes in Saturday’s final 60-minute race.

The first-time No. 81 BSG Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 and co-drivers Wes Humphrey and Mike Ogren made encouraging across-the-board debuts for both the team and drivers in Pirelli GT4 competition. The Pro-Am class competitors finished both of the weekend’s races in 12th place.

Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams in SRO America competition is the season-ending race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, October 8 – 11.

“The Mercedes-AMG platform is nothing but exceptional. No matter what you throw at it, you always know that you can rely on the car to be there for you throughout the duration of the run. The JMF Motorsports team does a great job setting it up, and we always try to match the aggression with the objective. The final round of the championship is certainly going to be a fight, and that’s also what we all look forward to. At the same time, we now have a better understanding of our terms of engagement. We’re going to give it all that we have when we get there. Indianapolis is not far from my home in Illinois, so to be in and around the home front is always a privilege because you get to see your loved ones. You’re able to physically see them on the corners, which always personally gives me an extra little kick of motivation. But granted, it’s another track. It’s another objective when it boils down to it. However, this one has a championship title at stake, and we’re going to give it all we have.”

Michai Stephens, Driver – No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3

“This program came together pretty tight on resources. The car hasn’t done much professional racing before, so to be able to get out and legitimately contend in this extremely competitive field of 30-plus GT4 cars is really rewarding. With a little bit better luck, I think we could have been further up in the field, but hopefully we get the chance to go and do it again. Trusting the Mercedes-AMG GT4 is really, really good, especially when it comes to putting the power down. Learning how to trust the car, even though it’s got a healthy amount of power, and tweaking some of the driver settings, like ABS and traction control, to really trust the driver a bit more was rewarding. That helped us find a good bit of pace and move up the field.”

Mike Ogren, Driver – No. 81 BSG Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4

# # #