30.05.2024Maro Engel's victory in Daytona at the start of the 2021 motorsport season

The 24 Hours of Daytona has been held since 1966 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, which is known worldwide for the famous Daytona 500. The 24-hour race has been part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the USA for several years. At the 59th edition in 2021, the German Maro Engel competed for the Winward Racing Team in the Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo. In addition to Maro Engel, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje also sat in the vehicle. After completing 745 laps, of which the team led by the Munich native was in the lead in their class by 362, the vehicle crossed the finish line in 22nd place overall and as the winner in the GTD class. The class winner in scale 1:18 can now be ordered in our shop. The vehicle in black and blue was replicated in detail by the label Ixo in order to reflect the original role model as best as possible. Ixo managed to do this with the label's usual high quality, so that this victory in Daytona can find a place in the showcases at home.

It was a dream start to the 2021 season for Maro Engel. After securing a podium finish at the Dubai 24 Hours two weeks earlier, his first class victory at Daytona followed immediately afterwards. Engel, who was allowed to drive the final stint, crossed the finish line after 24 hours in the Mercedes AMG-GT3 with starting number 57 and thus led the Mercedes customer team HTP Winward Racing to victory. Traditionally, Engel and his teammates Donte, Ellis and Ward also secured a watch from event sponsor Rolex. Since the introduction of the GTD class at Daytona in 2014, Maro Engel's victory makes him the fifth German to write his name into the history books. Before him, Dominik Farnbacher (2015), Rene Rast and Marco Seefried (2016) and Christian Engelhardt (2019) achieved this. In total, Maro Engel was behind the wheel for eight of the 24 hours and thus played a significant role in the victory.

Mercedes-AMG had two things to be happy about that day, because in addition to starting number 57, the vehicle with Luca Stolz, Raffaele Maerciello, Kenny Habul and Mikael Grenier landed in second place in the GTD class. At this point, the two vehicles were only separated by 16.3 seconds, which is almost the blink of an eye considering the time that had already passed 24 hours. The fact that the race was interrupted by eleven full-course yellow phases underlines how closely the two Mercedes were separated from each other. However, the race didn't go completely smoothly. The pedal box in the footwell of the racing car, which can normally be adjusted to the size of the respective driver, got stuck and could no longer be adjusted. At the subsequent press conference, Maro Engel joked how happy he was that the pedal box was caught in a position that all drivers could handle, but that he also believed that his colleague Indy Dontje would certainly be “a little shorter” after the race due to his height ".

Mercedes AMG GT3 #57 Winner GTD-Class 24h Daytona 2021 Winward Racing 1:18, RRP €79.95, item-no.: WWR-I-AMG-21-1857-24H

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Mercedes-AMG GT3 #57 vinder GTD klasse 24h Daytona 2021 Winward Racing 1:18 Ixo

£ 63.96