Topic

Engineering

#11 AMG-Mercedes Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR: Bernd Schneider, Alexander Wurz

Autosport Plus

GT Special feature

How a 128-day Mercedes miracle crushed its opposition

By:

James Newbold

May 17, 2023, 9:46 AM

On this day 25 years ago, at Silverstone’s FIA GT round in 1998, the Mercedes CLK-GTR took its final competition win. The car which had romped to the title the previous year was rushed by necessity, but delivered on its objectives and in doing so moved the goalposts in GT racing. Time to look back at an era-defining car with some of the project's key figures

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A cursory look at the standings three rounds into the inaugural FIA GT Championship would give little indication of what was to come over the remainder of the 1997 season. An 18-point advantage for Schnitzer McLaren-BMW drivers JJ Lehto and Steve Soper over Mercedes CLK-GTR pairing Bernd Schneider and Alex Wurz didn’t tell the true story either.

The new Mercedes run by the works AMG operation was clearly the quicker car and, once its teething troubles were ironed out for round four at the Nurburgring, it would be beaten only twice more that year. By the time it was replaced by the CLK-LM for the third round of the 1998 campaign, it had earned eight wins including five 1-2 finishes (from 13 attempts), eight pole positions (including four top-three lockouts) and truly moved the goalposts in GT racing. Not bad for a car that was conceived, built and given its race debut within the space of 128 days.

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James Newbold Autosport Plus Editor

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James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.