Daytona: Mercedes emerges victorious from the duel with Ferrari in GTD

The Mercedes-AMG GT3s of HTP Winward Motorsport and SunEnergy1 Racing achieved the GTD double at Daytona, at the expense of the AF Corse Ferrari.

Published on 01/02/2021 à 11:37

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Daytona: Mercedes emerges victorious from the duel with Ferrari in GTD

They will have animated a good part of the day on Sunday. The duel between Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°57 from HTP Winward Motorsport driven by Maro Engel and the Ferrari n°21 of AF Corse in the hands of Daniel Serra lasted several hours at Daytona, punctuated by several touches. The last one was fatal to Matteo Cressoni who had taken the wheel a few laps earlier.

At the first corner, the Mercedes of Philip Ellis, who was stuck on the ropes, lost control slightly and then hit the Ferrari. “The contact would not have caused any damage, but unfortunately I found myself in the tire wall, which also caused a puncture,” says Matteo Cressoni. Unfortunately, the episode took us away from the fight for victory. I’m disappointed because we were in the lead for twenty hours and we had a car that could have won.”

Daniel Serra is also cautious about the crash. “I haven't analyzed the accident yet, but the first lap with new tires was difficult and the car was very slippery. I think Matteo left enough room inside for the Mercedes.” The Brazilian explains why the Ferrari tended to overtake the Mercedes in a straight line before giving way each time in the bend.

“I think the car had the potential to win today. We had chosen a very low downforce configuration, so we had difficulty on the rope but managed to reach excellent speed at the end of the straight. It wasn't a question of power, because the Mercedes cars were able to exploit their greatest torque in the first part of the straight.

Regardless, the race management decided not to penalize the #57 Mercedes-AMG, which was able to race to victory, ahead of another Mercedes, that of SunEnergy1 Racing, driven by Mikael Grenier, Raffaele Marciello, Luca Stolz and Kenny Habul.

“Winning the legendary Daytona 24-hour race is a dream for every racing driver and, of course, also for us as a manufacturer,” smiles Stefan Wendl, Director of Mercedes Customer Racing. Today's fantastic 1-2 is a historic success for our program. Our strategy aimed to pace the race well. After taking it a little more cautiously at the start, our cars got us through hours of intense duels in the morning and ultimately brought the 1-2 home.”

Winward Racing won in its first participation, while Mercede scored its first GTD success at Daytona.

Videos of the battle: