- Mercedes-Benz launched another new division dubbed Affalterbach Racing GmbH
- Affalterbach Racing GmbH will develop a customer racing business and race cars
- Mercedes-Benz AMG also plans to acquire HWA
Growing interest in customer racing has led to Mercedes-Benz AMG launching a standalone company to handle all “conceptual and technical” aspects of its expanding customer racing business. The business at present already has a diverse offering, including race cars built to GT2, GT3, and GT4 regulations.
The new company, Affalterbach Racing GmbH, is based at AMG's Affalterbach headquarters in Germany, and one of its first tasks is to develop a new GT3 race car based on the latest AMG GT sports car. Mercedes' current GT3 is based on the former AMG GT.
AMG said the more specialist and race car-focused knowledge of Affalterbach Racing will be tapped to help develop future AMG road cars, quickly and efficiently.
AMG will still maintain the current AMG Motorsport division, which will continue to be responsible for the overall organization of the global motorsportrs program at Mercedes-Benz, including Formula 1.
Teaser for Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 race car being developed by Affalterbach Racing
Separately, AMG plans to acquire the customer racing business of HWA. For those readers unfamiliar with HWA, it’s the German motorsports and engineering skunk works formed in 1998 by AMG co-founder Hans Werner Aufrecht. That year it became responsible for AMG’s motorsports program after Mercedes-Benz took AMG in-house.
Following the sale of its customer racing program to AMG, a deal which is yet to be fully approved, HWA will focus on its other programs like developing racing engines and even limited-production road cars like the recent Evo 190 E restomod project.
