Mikaël Grenier Joins Mercedes-AMG Performance Drivers Junior Program

GRENIER, AMONG OTHERS, WILL BE RACING IN DTM, ADAC GT MASTERS, GT WORLD CHALLENGE AND INTERNATIONAL RACES

Wonderful news for Canadian Mikaël Grenier being signed by Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. As we have followed his successes in various series over the last three years and witnessed his efforts while performing with the best GT drivers in the world, the call finally came in to join a manufacturer.

Added to the 2022 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport along with Grenier is Lucas Auer with whom Mikaël has raced with before.

With an updated and expanded driver line-up, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is underlining its ambitions for the next successful GT season. The Mercedes-AMG family has been strengthened further by the new exclusive signings of DTM race winner Lucas Auer (AUT) and IMSA stalwart Mikaël Grenier (CAN). As a result, the high-class line-up for 2022 includes a total of 17 drivers who will support the international Customer and Performance Teams in selected race participations. Moreover, five Mercedes-AMG Drivers are also ambassadors of Mercedes-AMG Partner BWT.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport has traditionally been relying on a mix of seasoned stalwarts and promising talents. 2022 is no exception: Maximilian Buhk, Maro Engel, reigning DTM champion Maximilian Götz, Thomas Jäger, Luca Stolz (all GER), Jules Gounon (FRA), Dani Juncadella (ESP) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) will again be competing as Performance Drivers in the world’s most demanding GT series and will be racing the matured Mercedes-AMG GT3.

An addition to the team is Philip Ellis (SUI), still racing as a Junior in the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Programme last year, but having been upgraded to Performance Driver status during the winter break. With his DTM race win at Lausitzring and victory in the Daytona 24 hour race last season, the 29-year-old had put himself in the frame for this next step in his career. Ellis’s DTM teammate from last year, Lucas Auer, who reliably racked up outstanding results for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD in the prestigious German series, has now also been incorporated into the Performance Drivers group.

For the dedicated support of young drivers, Mercedes-AMG is working with a brand-specific Junior programme. Here, up-and-coming talents get the chance to prove themselves with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the highest level. Like in 2021 already, Patrick Assenheimer, Fabian Schiller (both GER) and Arjun Maini (IND) will be supported in a special way. For this year, they will be joined by Mikaël Grenier, who convinced most recently in GT World Challenge America and won the Pro-Am title in the Intercontinental GT Challenge with SunEnergy1 Racing.

As so-called Experts, Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Manuel Metzger (GER) and Daniel Morad (CAN) have been added to the line-up and are taking care of individual duties. Christodoulou and Metzger will exclusively be focussing on the Nordschleife programme in 2022 and will be racing in the Nürburgring Endurance Series and in the legendary 24-hour race. As an esports specialist, Morad is supporting the further development of the internal sim racing involvement. Beyond that, the programmes of the drivers have been put together individually. In 2022, the GT3 stalwarts, Junior drivers and newcomers will, among others, be racing in DTM, ADAC GT Masters, GT World Challenge and international endurance races as well as in various further series. The aim is for them to score points and victories for the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams on a regular basis with their experience and their driving abilities.

Mikaël Grenier, Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver: “I am simply just grateful that my efforts in the past years are paying off and that I am getting this unique chance from Mercedes-AMG. Now, I want to perform well and I want to show that those in charge have made the right decision with this step. After all, now it is no longer just about the driver and personal success, but it is about raising the Mercedes-AMG customer sports programme to the next level together.”

Image and excerpt from Mercedes-AMG Motorsport media releaseuro