Mercedes-AMG celebrated their annual “Night of the Stars” on Saturday at the W Hotel in Barcelona with the bands big winners recognised together with a ‘thank you’ to Maximillian Buck as he bid a final farewell from active motorsport.
The 29-year-old had been part of the customer sports driver line-up since 2016 without interruption and in addition to the Blancpain GT Series drivers’ and teams’ titles also secured multiple podium results in major international endurance races. In 2013 he became the youngest-ever overall winner of the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race together with HTP Motorsport. Most recently, he raced in DTM with Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport.
Winners of the brand-internal championship announced
The announcement of the winners of the brand-internal Customer Racing Championship was the highlight of the evening event.
For eight years, Mercedes-AMG has been awarding the most successful teams and drivers of its customer sports programme with a high-quality trophy and exclusive prizes from its partners.
The competition is divided in eight categories: PRO-DRIVER, DRIVER, DRIVER GT3, PRO-DRIVER GT3, DRIVER GT4, PRO-DRIVER GT4, TEAMS GT3 and TEAMS GT4. In the classification, all customer teams and drivers of full age are included who have competed in races with the Mercedes-AMG GT3, GT4 or SLS AMG GT3 in the past competition period (3rd November 2021 – 4th October 2022). Customer teams with extended works support, so-called Performance Teams, are excluded from participation, just like the Performance drivers supported by Mercedes-AMG.
The final classification depends on multiple factors. In every race, points are attributed according to the 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 format that is common in motorsport. In the process, the results of the GT3 and GT4 cars are considered and scored separately. Depending on the level and the distance of the race event, the points scored are being multiplied by a pre-determined factor in the final step to allow for a fair competition.
The prize winners of the 2022 Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship
In the classification of the PRO-DRIVER category, drivers were included who, according to the ranking by the FIA, have platinum, gold or silver status.
After his victory in the previous year, Jim Pla again managed to come out on top in this classification. With his successful runs in GT World Challenge Europe and various GT4 series, he kept the opposition at bay and as a prize, he received a Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E PERFORMANCE . At the same time, the Frenchman also claimed victory in the PRO-DRIVER GT4 category.
Having won the British GT Championship drivers’ title, Ian Loggie also secured top honours in the DRIVER and DRIVER GT3 standings.
Like Jim Pla, the Scot receives a Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E PERFORMANCE for first place in the DRIVER standings. Russell Ward was classified first in the PRO-DRIVER GT3 standings.
With convincing performances in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Kris Wilson claimed the top position in the DRIVER GT4 standings.
Thanks to an extensive programme with race participations in GT World Challenge Europe, Intercontinental GT Challenge and International GT Open, SPS automotive performance has won the TEAM GT3 classification. The best team in the GT4 segment was Auto Sport Promotion that raced, among others, in GT4 European Series and GT4 France under the AKKODIS ASP Team banner. Both teams receive 40,000 Euros of prize money.
Christoph Sagemüller, head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport: “The Customer Racing end-of-season celebration is a highlight in our customer sports programme every year. We are very happy that, after a two-year break, we were finally able to welcome numerous members of the Mercedes-AMG family live and to celebrate together with them. There were plenty of reasons to celebrate this year as our teams and drivers have achieved outstanding race and title wins. And it is fascinating to see how the AMG Motorsport family grows year after year. Without any doubt, this proves that we offer a very attractive and convincing package in international competition with our Customer Racing programme. I would like to extend my thanks to all our teams and drivers from all over the world who thrilled by means of their outstanding commitment with great motorsport throughout the season and represented the AMG brand in a perfect way. And sincere thanks also to our loyal partners who are reliably accompanying us and who, with exclusive prizes for the winners of the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Championship, have also made our end-of-season celebration a unique experience.”
Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “In sporting terms, 2022 was a particularly successful season. Therefore, it is even more beautiful to be able to celebrate these achievements together with our drivers, teams and co-operation partners. Every single one can be incredibly proud of his performance. That is why we were really happy that we were able to appropriately honour the great efforts by our customer sports teams and drivers with the prize-giving in our brand-internal championship. Thanks to our partners who have made this prize-giving ceremony possible and who remain loyal to us in the upcoming season as well. With Maximilian, we have lost a staple on the drivers’ side, but together, we have achieved a lot and I wish him all the best, also away from active motorsport.”
