#gtrois

Maro Engel and Luggi Auer went on a podcast to talk all things NLS, 24h and Max of course came up. Here's a recap for GT3 relations enjoyers:

Maro was asked about Max and sharing a brand with him: "It's very cool. (longest pause ever) Jules probably said it best: He's one of us, but of course with incredible driving talent. We're all great drivers but having Max there is definitely something special. We're happy to have him. It's incredible for the whole of GT racing that Max picked this race to compete in. Also for us as a brand, as a team, as his team colleagues, it's an honour. We're looking forward to the work and we're going at it with a one-team approach. Two cars, one team. We're wanting to maximise our learnings, to develop and improve the set up and hopefully have one finish at the front."

Luggi was asked about his and Max's time in Formula 3 together and the interviewer brought up the old images circulating (see fig1 below): "It's something special to have a 4-time world champion here and it shows you that motorsport is breathing and loving."

The interviewer brought up that Max went to Nords straight after Suzuka to get some wet running in, actually leaving him to drive in the snow. Live Maro reaction to that comment:

Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes AMG Motorsport said that "Max is taking the 24h extremely seriously and he's aware of the challenge of going up against the likes of Maro and Luggi. He's serious about the prep and is full-blood racer. All this makes him extremely likeable. He's happy that GT3 is finally getting the spotlight it deserves, thanks to Max's engagement. All the hype in motorsports in general but also here at NLS thanks to Max is brilliant for the category."

Christoph was also asked how the collab with Mercedes came about and who called who first. He said he doesn't know who called first but first talks happened last year.