Mercedes-AMG returns to FIA GT World Cup in Macau

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is back on the Guia Circuit after a one-year absence, with three Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered for the FIA GT World Cup from 19 to 22 November. Customer teams Craft-Bamboo Racing and Tigani Motorsport will field Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Adderly Fong. With nine wins from 18 GT3 races in Macau, the brand arrives as the event’s most successful manufacturer.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport will return to the Macau Grand Prix this November after sitting out the 2025 edition. The FIA GT World Cup runs on the Guia Circuit from 19 to 22 November as part of the 73rd running of the Macau Grand Prix, and three Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars will be on the grid, entered by customer racing teams Craft-Bamboo Racing and Tigani Motorsport.

The driver line-up is made up of Mercedes-AMG Performance Drivers Lucas Auer (AUT) and Maro Engel (GER), together with Adderly Fong (HKG). According to the manufacturer, Mercedes-AMG is the most successful marque in Macau GT3 racing with nine wins from 18 events and five manufacturers’ titles.

Three drivers, three very different Macau stories

Auer will tackle the street circuit in a GT3 car for the first time. The 31-year-old, who races for Tigani Motorsport, previously competed in Macau in Formula 3 between 2012 and 2014, finishing second on his last appearance in 2014.

Engel arrives with a far deeper GT3 record here: ten starts and four victories. He won the Macau GT Cup in 2014 and 2022 and the FIA GT World Cup in 2015 and 2024, making him the joint-record winner of Macau’s GT races alongside Edoardo Mortara. He has also finished second in 2018 and third in both 2016 and 2017. This year’s outing with Craft-Bamboo Racing will be his eleventh start.

Fong, who is also with Craft-Bamboo Racing, first raced on the Guia Circuit in Formula 3 in 2010 and made his GT3 debut in Macau in 2014. He last competed there in 2025 in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 and was classified 13th.

A street track with no margin for error

The 6.120 km (3.80-mile) Guia Circuit, first used in 1954, mixes high-speed and low-speed corners with technically demanding sections. It has 22 corners — 14 right, eight left — and varies in width from a minimum of 7 metres to a maximum of 14 metres (23 to 46 feet), with up to 30 metres (98 feet) of elevation change. The fastest corner, Mandarin, is taken at 262 km/h (163 mph) in sixth gear; the slowest, the Melco Hairpin, at 32 km/h (20 mph) in first.

Mercedes-AMG quotes a top speed of 280 km/h (174 mph) and an average lap speed of 164 km/h (102 mph), with drivers at full throttle for 61 per cent of the lap and making 34 gear changes each time round. The GT3 lap record stands at 2:14.542, set by Raffaele Marciello in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in 2023.

New sensors, limited data

GT3 cars have raced at the Macau Grand Prix since 2008, under the Macau GT Cup name until 2014, as the FIA GT World Cup from 2015, again as the Macau GT Cup from 2020 to 2022 and as the World Cup once more since 2023. One recent regulation change is shaping the team’s preparation: torque sensors have been mandatory at the FIA GT World Cup since last year, and Mercedes-AMG says it has no reference data with them on this circuit.

“Macau is both a highlight and a challenge. Torque sensors have been mandatory at the FIA GT World Cup since last year. As we still lack reference data with them on the Guia Circuit, we are paying particular attention to preparation and simulation work,” said Stefan Wendl, Head of Customer Racing at Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.

Engel pointed to qualifying as the decisive session. “The track demands everything from you as a driver, you have to be enormously precise — I love that particular challenge, because as a driver you can make the difference,” he said. “Grid position is of decisive importance in Macau.”

Auer, meanwhile, plans simulator sessions plus detailed video and data analysis before his first GT3 outing on the circuit.

What it means

Macau is a one-race, one-weekend event where a single mistake ends the meeting, which is why manufacturers treat the World Cup as a standalone prestige target rather than a championship round. Mercedes-AMG’s return with three cars and two established customer teams restores a presence it has built nine wins on — but with unfamiliar torque-sensor data and a driver making his GT3 debut on the circuit, preparation will count for as much as pace.