Mercedes-AMG hopes to have customer teams competing in both the FIA WEC and ELMS next season when the LMGT3 class is introduced in both championships, according to Mercedes-AMG driver and DTM sports director Thomas Jäger.
Speaking with media today, Jäger confirmed that Mercedes is already fielding interest from customer teams looking to compete with the AMG GT3 platform ACO championships next year.
“We have interested teams of course, because there are many customers who would like to join and like to do Le Mans in the future. We have close contact with the organisers, and we will see what the future looks like in the end,” he said.
“We go the way the customers want to go and look at how much support is possible. Of course, we have driver support, engineering support, and maybe spare parts support as we are known for our support worldwide. That’s our approach.
“At the moment we are discussing all options, and when we have a clearer picture we will decide where to go, but our plan is to have cars in these championships.”
Jäger is confident that Mercedes will have a presence but admits that it is still too early to know whether or not customer entries in the FIA WEC will be possible. As it stands there are no guarantees that there will be space on the grid for Mercedes GT3 cars in the FIA WEC next year.
The class is expected to feature between 6-9 manufacturers depending on the number of Hypercar entries, each with two grid slots to allocate to teams of their choosing. However, with demand from manufacturers and teams likely to exceed the number of LMGT3 spaces on entry, it is unlikely that every GT manufacturer hoping to compete in the new-look class will be granted spots.
To make the selection process as fair as possible for the FIA WEC prospects, priority is set to be given to manufacturers and teams that are active in Hypercar or have shown loyalty to the championship in recent seasons.
As Mercedes-AMG has never had a presence in either the FIA WEC or ELMS, it will be in competition for any remaining spaces on the grid made available for interested brands that sit outside of the current GTE and Hypercar arena.
“We will see what will happen in the future,” Jäger added. “At the moment it’s a little bit early to have any results yet, but we are very optimistic that we will see AMG on the grid.”
