Team GT looks back on debut season in GT3 racing - preparations underway for 2023

Team GT 2022 came back with a bang. After largely taking a break in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the team from Grünwald in Bavaria entered GT3 racing in 2022. With a Mercedes-AMG GT3, the team of Bernhard Laber and team manager Max Penner started in the International GT Open.

Long-time Team GT driver Alain Valente from Switzerland contested all seven race weekends in the Swabian GT3 car in the continental racing series. At his side, team owner Laber and Florian Scholze alternated, each contesting a few races with Valente. The Swiss finished the season in tenth place in the overall standings and fifth in the PROAM class.

The highlight of the season for Team GT was the overall victory in the first race in Budapest, Hungary, where Valente came out on top with Florian Scholze. But also the race weekend on the Italian high-speed circuit in Monza was successful and promising for the Mercedes team. In the first race, the team celebrated a class victory and finished second overall. On Sunday, the duo was also on their way to another class win before a problem with the fuel pump occurred half a lap before the end of the race and prevented the double victory.

"Overall, we are very happy with our very first season in GT3 racing! The whole team and Alain in particular put in a very strong performance. We proved that we can also keep up in GT3 racing. This motivates us a lot for the 2023 season!", said a satisfied Bernhard Laber after the season finale of the International GT Open in Barcelona.

For the 2023 season, the team is working on a programme increase in international GT3 racing. As the team feels very comfortable in the International GT Open, the racing team will again compete in the championship of the Spanish organiser GT Sport. "The organising team of the International GT Open is responsive to our needs and wishes and thus tries to provide us with the best possible platform," said team manager Max Penner. "The negative example in this case is the ADAC, which did not listen to the teams' wishes by transforming the ADAC GT Masters into the DTM Endurance, thus destroying an interesting operational platform for GT3 cars in our home country."

In the International GT Open, the Bavarian team plans to field up to two Mercedes-AMG GT3s, with which the team was able to gain very positive experience in its first GT3 year. Here, the team still has driver slots open on the second car and is looking for suitable drivers for the cars. Alain Valente and Florian Scholze will drive the team's first Mercedes-AMG GT3 in 2023; after the team's promising debut season, the goal here is to win the PROAM class title.

In addition, Team GT is venturing into the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, one of the world's most important GT series. In the environment of the SRO racing series, the team already competed in the GT4 European Series and got to know the professional environment of the SRO there. In addition, during the starts in the GT4 series, the desire quickly grew in Team GT to also compete in the endurance classification of the GT World Challenge Europe, in which up to 60 GT3 vehicles start in the normal classification races - at the season highlight, the 24h Spa - the world's largest GT3 race - even more vehicles regularly start. Which races the team will complete in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup is still unclear at the moment. "However, preparations for this are in full swing," Penner continues.

Team owner Bernhard Laber concludes: "Looking back on our first and immediately successful first GT3 season, we are highly motivated for the 2023 season! Our goal is to win the PROAM class in the International GT Open with Alain and Florian! But we also want to get a taste of the GT World Challenge Europe. But we also continue to keep a close eye on the development of the DTM and the DTM Endurance. It remains exciting!"