Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing have announced an expanded factory GT driver roster in 2024 despite the high profile departure of Raffaele Marciello to BMW after the conclusion of the 2023 season.
The roster, composed of drivers ranked as “Junior” “Expert” and “Performance” has been expanded from 17 to 19 drivers from eleven different nations.
It consists of nine Performance Drivers and five Junior Drivers and is complemented by five Experts who will be competing in selected races. Former DTM professional Thomas Jäger (GER) remains the Expert-rated test and development driver.
An entirely new addition to the line-up is Junior Driver Frank Bird (pictured below), who impressed at last year’s AMG Young Driver Test at Valencia and in his race participation in the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Abu Dhabi that resulted from it.
Moreover, both Felipe Fraga and David Reynolds have been promoted to Expert status. Fraga has been racing for the brand since 2018 and has competed in over 30 endurance races with the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Reynolds has primarily been racing on the Australian continent for Mercedes-AMG.
Arjun Maini is now ranked as a Performance driver, up from his prior Junior status.
Rather unusually Dani Juncadella is named as a factory driver for Mercedes AMG having also confirmed as a Corvette factory driver in the WEC for TF Sport, this arrangement understood to be possible because AMG have no WEC presence in 2024.
Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport: “Once again, we have a demanding year ahead of us. Building on the extremely successful season we had last year is going to be a challenge.
“Therefore, we have put together a driver line-up that is not only strong, but above all as balanced as possible.
“Moreover, young driver support is very important to us as a manufacturer, which is why we are promoting young drivers in a determined way. The promising mix of drivers makes me get the customer sports season underway with a positive feeling.”
Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “I am delighted that we are able to present a competitive driver line-up in 2024 once again.
“Building on the experience recently accumulated, we have a well-balanced mix of champions and endurance race winners as well as young, talented drivers who are eager to win.
“I am particularly happy that in Frank Bird, a promising Junior has presented and qualified himself through the AMG Young Driver Test. Together, we want to rack up wins for AMG in the most significant endurance races and championships again this year.”
Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, 2024 driver line-up
- Ralf Aron – Junior
- Lucas Auer Performance
- Frank Bird – Junior
- Adam Christodoulou – Expert
- Philip Ellis – Performance
- Maro Engel – Performance
- Felipe Fraga – Expert
- Maximilian Götz – Performance
- Jules Gounon – Performance
- Mikaël Grenier – Performance
- Daniel Juncadella – Expert
- Jordan Love – Junior
- Arjun Maini – Performance
- Daniel Morad – Expert
- Jusuf Owega – Junior
- David Reynolds. Expert
- Fabian Schiller – Performance
- David Schumacher – Junior
- Luca Stolz – Performance
