Why replacing Mercedes’ hugely successful GT3 car is such a challenge

Mercedes-AMG is working on a new GT3 car for customer and factory-supported racing. It will become the first major product to emerge from the Affalterbach Racing division, which was set up midway through 2024 as Mercedes brought an end to its long-standing relationship with HWA.

The unnamed GT3 challenger is expected to be based on the Concept AMG GT Track Sport, a new sportscar that will join the second-generation AMG GT in Mercedes’ flagship performance line-up.

As one would expect from a manufacturer of this scale, Mercedes has been very secretive about its next GT3 offering, offering no firm details on specification or timelines. To date, only a handful of images of the camouflaged road car have been released.

What is known is that work on the successor to the AMG GT3 is already under way and that it could be homologated in time for the 2027 season. The new car is expected to feature an all-carbon-fibre chassis and a turbocharged V8 engine, but the rest of the info remains under wraps.

“We want to create a follow-up of our successful car, and we know that it’s not easy because this car is very successful and it’s well balanced — and this is a challenge we will face,” Mercedes head of customer racing Stefan Wendl told Motorsport.com.

“That’s why it took us a while to look for the right baseline car, which is needed to again create such a car with the potential that is involved. So we take the time for the development which is necessary, and to launch it when it’s ready.”

The current Mercedes-AMG GT3 has been in service since 2016, making it one of the oldest GT3 cars still in circulation. It received a mid-cycle refresh in 2020, but Mercedes opted against introducing a second evolution, unlike rivals Lamborghini and Audi, which introduced two Evo updates for the Huracan and R8 LMS respectively.

It is based on the first-generation AMG GT (C190) road car, which was itself the spiritual successor to the gullwing SLS AMG. When Mercedes introduced the second version of the AMG-GT in 2023, code-named C192, it was widely expected that a GT3 version would follow. But its 2-2 seating configuration made it impossible for active competition, complicating the search for a new base model.

As Mercedes works on only its third-ever GT3 car, the scale of the task is underlined by the success of the outgoing model. Since its debut, the AMG GT3 has conquered some of the biggest races in the world, including the 24-hour enduros at the Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps, and claimed titles in DTM and GT World Challenge Europe. It’s also been a formidable race winner across the Atlantic in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Mercedes is acutely aware that the new car will have a tough act to follow.

“It’s so successful that maybe you can think about another 10 years — to go directly into youngtimer,” Wendl joked about the AMG GT3.

“But we have to remember that there are other cars in this paddock which are just [as old, or] even older. I think the FIA kept the level of performance very similar in the past 10 years due to the rules and the performance window all cars have to fit in. This is very constant for the homologation of new cars also.

“This makes it possible for quite old concepts like this [to remain] competitive with this amount of [time], even with minor adaptations. 

“Those adaptations are necessary and will also go into our [current] C190 GT3 car. It will also be slightly adapted with minor points which are in the frame of the homologation for the coming season, to make it more competitive, [based on] the things we learned this year.” 

Even though the AMG GT3 remains competitive, its days are inevitably numbered. With the first-generation AMG GT long out of production, it no longer makes marketing sense for Mercedes to race a GT3 derivative of a discontinued road car.

Mercedes will spend 2026 developing the new model, but it has not revealed whether it will be ready for homologation in time for the 2027 season.

“Nobody has confirmed that next year will be the last [for the AMG GT3],” Wendl said.

Concept AMG GT Track Sport

Photo by: Mercedes AMG

The GT3 landscape has also evolved significantly since the AMG GT3 made its debut a decade ago. Not only has the competition widened, but update cycles have also accelerated. For instance, Ford is rolling out the evo version of the Mustang GT3 in 2026, just two years after the car’s launch.

“We have had new brands joining the grid, and brands are more competitive,” Wendl admitted.

“If you look back six, eight years, the whole GT3 market was dominated by four brands, more or less. You can say the big races were being won by those ones, or at least championships [were won by those ones].

“Now we have a market where seven, eight, nine brands are involved, and they all have a competitive and professional approach. This makes it challenging for everybody. 

“Also, as Mercedes-AMG customer racing, we need to adapt to those developments, but also the teams [have to adapt to them].”

The development of the new GT3 car represents a significant undertaking for Affalterbach Racing. Motorsport.com reported in November that the transition from HWA to AFR had not been entirely smooth, with concerns over spare parts availability for current cars in the short term.

HWA was more than just a technical service provider for Mercedes, having developed several models and supported its entire customer racing division for 27 years. The decision to bring those responsibilities in-house was made by Mercedes-AMG under the leadership of Michael Schiebe, who now serves as a board member of its parent company Mercedes-Benz.

“We founded Affalterbach Racing. It will be our new development partner for the future and take over the work from HWA,” Wendl explained.

“For the customers, in the best case, it will not change too much in the first step. In the mid-to-long term, we want to improve our services. 

“As it is a division owned by AMG, we want to be closer to our customers, we want to improve our service levels. We also want to bring all the learnings which we had on the racetrack, with our engineers on track, into the development of new cars for the future.”

We want your opinion!

— The Motorsport.com Team