Canadians Mikaël Grenier and Daniel Morad to continue as Mercedes-AMG Factory drivers

MIK GRENIER MOVES UP FROM JUNIOR STATUS TO PERFOMANCE AS DANIEL MORAD IS LISTED AS EXPERT

Mercedes-AMG expands its driver line-up for the 2023 season, putting itself in place for the upcoming challenges of the still fresh season. Compared to the previous year, the line-up of the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach has increased to 18 established drivers and up-and-coming talents. In the process, Mercedes-AMG has opted for eleven seasoned Performance Drivers, two Experts and five Junior Drivers. Between them, they support the Customer and Performance Teams during race activities at all continents during the new season.

Mercedes-AMG to enter the new season with eleven Performance Drivers

Driving the Mercedes-AMG GT3, the Performance Drivers will again be racing in the most relevant national and international race series. Mikaël Grenier (CAN) and Fabian Schiller (GER) extend the already impressive driver selection of Lucas Auer (AUT), Philip Ellis (SUI), Maro Engel, Maximilian Götz (both GER), Jules Gounon (AND), Thomas Jäger (GER), Daniel Juncadella (ESP), Raffaele Marciello (SUI) and Luca Stolz (GER). Both Grenier and Schiller already were Junior Drivers with Mercedes-AMG in the past season and were able to put themselves forward for the Performance Driver selection with consistently strong achievements.

During the season, all Performance Drivers will primarily be racing in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the DTM, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Nürburgring Endurance Series and during the famous ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring. As part of his car development duties, Thomas Jäger will be in action during the 24h Nürburgring and the 24H SERIES. On top of that, he remains sporting director in DTM.

Additional focus on DTM and IMSA

Philip Ellis, Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon, Mikaël Grenier, Daniel Juncadella, Raffaele Marciello and Fabian Schiller will be competing in various rounds of the North American IMSA series. They are to contribute to bringing the coveted trophy for the best IMSA GT driver of 2023 to Affalterbach. This project already got off to a promising start during the Rolex 24 At Daytona where Performance Drivers Engel, Gounon and Juncadealla managed to win the GTD Pro class for WeatherTech Racing.

In 2022, Mik Grenier was added to the Junior factory driver line-up at Mercedes-AMG and competed the full season in the DTM series as well as competed in the Asian Le Mans Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. With his performance throughout the season, he has now been promoted to the performance stable of the Mercedes-AMG ladder for 2023.

in 2023, Grenier is competing in the GTD class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Team Korthoff Motorsports. He is also competing in Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Daniel Morad has been involved in the virtual world of racing as a Mercedes-AMG driver in the last couple of years as well as competing part-time in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. For 2023, Morad has signed for a full season with Winward Racing competing in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge driving a Mercedes AMG GT4. He is also to take part in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America with TR3 Racing in the GT3 Pro-Am class.

Mercedes-AMG relies on Christodoulou and Morad as Experts

North American racing specialist Daniel Morad (CAN) will be representing Mercedes-AMG during the seven GT World Challenge America race weekends in 2023. The Canadian, who additionally will compete in the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Indianapolis, is one of two Experts in the Mercedes-AMG driver line-up next to Adam Christodoulou (GBR). As a Nordschleife stalwart, Christodoulou will primarily compete in races in the “Green Hell” like in previous years already. Both drivers have comprehensive expertise in their respective areas and therefore, it is logical for them to focus on a programme in which they are able to make the best use of their qualities.

Christoph Sagemüller, head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport : “After an extremely successful 2022 for our customer sports programme, we are entering the new season with high ambitions. To this end, we have further strengthened our driver squad and found a good mix of experienced top drivers and ambitious young drivers.PUMA has been working very successfully with our Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team as Official Supplier of Technical Clothing and Footwear for a long time. We are therefore delighted that we have now been able to extend this cooperation to the entire Mercedes-AMG Motorsport commitment. As Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Official Partner, PUMA will also supply our factory drivers in GT Sport with race gear. The design of these performance-oriented products will also be integrated into the seasonal PUMA x Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Sportstyle collections in the future. This will make the racing-inspired car culture even more tangible for our fans.“

Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing : “For 2023, we have added a few talented and fast guys to our strong driver line-up that has delivered undisputed top-notch achievements once again in the past season. With Ralf Aron, Jordan Love and Jusuf Owega, we welcome three new up-and-coming members into the World’s Fastest Family, all of them having proven their talent already and now able to continue their development as Junior Drivers at Mercedes-AMG. As a result, we are confident to be an in excellent position for the new season and we are looking forward to thrilling motorsport moments and plenty of joint success.”

Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, 2023 driver line-up:

Name	First name	Nationality	Status
Aron	Ralf	Estland	Junior
Auer	Lucas	Österreich	Performance
Christodoulou	Adam	Großbritannien	Expert
Ellis	Philip	Schweiz	Performance
Engel	Maro	Deutschland	Performance
Götz	Maximilian	Deutschland	Performance
Gounon	Jules	Andorra	Performance
Grenier	Mikaël	Kanada	Performance
Jäger	Thomas	Deutschland	Performance
Juncadella	Daniel	Spanien	Performance
Love	Jordan	Australien	Junior
Maini	Arjun	Indien	Junior
Marciello	Raffaele	Schweiz	Performance
Morad	Daniel	Kanada	Expert
Owega	Jusuf	Deutschland	Junior
Schiller	Fabian	Deutschland	Performance
Schumacher	David	Deutschland	Junior
Stolz	Luca	Deutschland	Performance

Excerpt form Mercedes-AMG press release

Image: PMstills Photography / Patrice Marchessault