Reigning Asian Le Mans Series GT champions, HubAuto Racing will seek to defend their title later this month in a new Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, part of a record 19 car GT field for the Series.
The team made the switch from Ferrari to Mercedes-AMG in a deal signed late last year after holding detailed discussions with several GT manufacturers.
“We spoke with a number of manufacturers in 2020 and had certain criteria that needed to be met for a deal to be set in stone. Mercedes-AMG displayed professionalism and integrity, which is key to integrating with our team.” Morris Chen, Team Principal and owner of HubAuto Racing confirmed.
HubAuto Racing will be the only Mercedes-AMG team in the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series and the team are enthusiastic and confident they will be extremely competitive in the AMG.
Chen said “We have been impressed with the Mercedes marque for some time and we are very excited for our team’s future. We have a great car, highly skilled technical personnel and a pool of extremely talented drivers.”
Mercedes-AMG factory driver Raffaele Marciello is set to join the team and began assimilating with the crew shortly after the deal was signed. Marciello, a Mercedes-AMG driver for over 3 years, is the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Champion and 2019 FIA GT World Cup winner at Macau. He comes to the Series after finishing second at the Rolex 24 Hours this past weekend in the GTD category.
He has raced briefly in the Asian Le Mans Series before with a one-off appearance in a Fist Team AAI AMG at the opening round of the 2017/18 Series in Zhuhai, setting pole and finishing on the podium.
Joining Marciello and back to defend the title, are the combination of Marcos Gomes and Liam Talbot. Gomes, a HubAuto Racing driver for over two years, was the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series Driver Champion with the team and prior to that was 2015 Brazilian Stock Car Champion.
Twice Bathurst 12 hour class winner and 2016 Blancpain GT Endurance Cup Class Champion Talbot came into the team for three of the four rounds of the series. Having only started racing in his early 30’s, Talbot impressed finishing third in the championship.
Both drivers have previous experience in the Mercedes-AMG. “We believe we have a very competitive package, and our goal is nothing less than to win the championship.” Chen said.
The combination completes yet another GT entry with factory talent aboard for the Series.
Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “We are very happy to welcome HubAuto Racing joining the Mercedes-AMG family. With last years’ titles in the drivers and in the team championship of the Asian Le Mans Series, HubAuto proved, in an expressive way, their experience and professionalism especially at endurance races. We are proud to have them on board and we will support Morris Chen and his team with the high standard of quality of our Customer Racing program to defend the titles in the series.”
The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series is a four-round championship featuring races of four hours in length. Due to Covid-19, this year it is being held in the United Arab Emirates. Race 1 and 2 will be held in Dubai on 13-14 February, with races 3 and 4 to be held at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi on the 19-20 February.
