SLS AMG GT3 gets first race victory

Thomas Jäger and Christopher Haase drove the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 to its first ever race win. The gullwing sports car raced by the private team Black Falcon was victorious in the ninth race of the VLN long-distance championship on Saturday at the Nürburgring.

Driving the SLS AMG GT3 for Mamerow-Racing, Bernd Schneider and Christian Mamerow started from pole position but retired on the fifth lap after a collision while lying second.

The gullwing driven by Jäger and Haase started from seventh pace, but Jäger managed to move up to fourth place on the first lap. With several consistent and fast laps the team Black Falcon gullwing took over the lead on the the tenth out of 20 laps. Christopher Haase set the fastest lap time of the race in 9:24.565 minutes, on the 13th lap to the circuit.

Having been developed in accordance with the GT3 regulations of the world governing body, FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), the SLS AMG GT3 competed once again in prototype class E1-XP. For this second testing race the focus was once again on methodical further development work as well as on collecting valuable additional test kilometres. The Black Falcon and Mamerow-Racing, two experienced teams on the North Loop, received the support from the AMG team. Both customer teams will be racing the gull wing in the next VLN season in 2011 (Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, with 10 motor sport clubs).

Thomas Jäger: "We're all delighted with the first victory of the SLS AMG GT3 on its second outing here on the North Loop. Despite difficult weather conditions, we had a problem-free race. The gull wing is not only fast, but it also impresses with its excellent stability. Today, we again collected valuable knowledge to assist our further development work in the test programme."

"Even though I didn't get to drive today because of the early accident, we're all highly satisfied with how the overall racing weekend has gone. The SLS AMG GT3 was able to demonstrate its performance credentials both in qualifying and during the race,” said Bernd Schneider.