Two-time Formula One World Driver’s Championship winner and German DTM series driver Mika Häkinnen will be ending his four-year retirement to co-drive a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 at the Zhuhai Six Hours, the final round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series.
“It’s a great honor for me to be able to contest the first SLS AMG GT3 race in China,” Häkkinen said in a press statement. “Although I’ve visited China many times, I’ve never raced there, which is why I’m really looking forward to Zhuhai.
“It will be a tough race in a competitive field, but I'll do my best for Customer Sports Team AMG. Of course, being a guest driver in such a line-up should be a lot of fun, especially in the SLS AMG GT3. It’s a great customer motorsport vehicle which is both fast and extremely good-looking.”
Häkkinen drove for McLaren Mercedes in Formula One from 1993 until 2001, amassing 20 Grand Prix victories and 26 poles. He won the World Driver’s Championship in 1998 and 1999. The Finnish driver returned to racing in 2005, competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series for Mercedes-Benz. He hung up his helmet in 2007.
Häkkinen’s return to racing will introduce the gullwinged Mercedes to China. The car has already been campaigned successfully in various series throughout 2011, winning the FIA GT3 European team title and taking race wins in the German ADAC GT Master Series and VLN Endurance Championship.
No Mercedes Factory Team
Häkkinen will co-drive the SLS in its Chinese debut with Mercedes Benz DTM pilot Cong Fu-Cheng and German driver Lance David Arnold. The car will be fielded by a private team, Customer AMG Sports Team China, not as an official Mercedes-Benz factory effort.
Mercedes has no plans at this point to enter GT racing. “We want to use [Mika Häkkinen’s] appearance to inspire race fans in China both for the vehicle and for the AMG customer sports program,” said Ola Källenius, Chairman and CEO of Mercedes-AMG GmbH, in an official release. “The GT3 version of the gullwing was designed for customer sport and will be raced in China—as in all other markets—by private teams.”
China is already a lucrative market for Mercedes, and the company hopes its market share will grow as the market grows.
“Although AMG first came to China in 2007, the brand has already proved to be a great success. By 2010, China had already become AMG’s third-largest market, and sales to August of this year are already 50% up on 2010,” said Klaus Meier, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz China Ltd.
“Chinese customers appreciate the incomparable blend of speed, handling, driving dynamics, exclusivity, design and exhaust note of the AMG. The commitment to customer motorsport with the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 as a style icon will further contribute to increasing Chinese enthusiasm for AMG.”
A good showing at Zhuhai would be the perfect advertisement for both the racing and road-going versions if the AMG gullwing.
