Winward Racing has firmed up plans to defend the overall drivers' titles that it claimed with Maro Engel and Lucas Auer in 2024.
The Mercedes-AMG squad enjoyed a sensational campaign, which saw Engel and Auer clinch the Sprint Cup crown with a run of eight podiums from 10 races. They were joined by fellow AMG ace Daniel Morad for the Endurance Cup and dominated the season finale in Jeddah, ensuring that Engel and Auer also snatched the overall GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS drivers' title.
The full-season pair will return to defend both championships this term aboard the familiar #48 Mercedes-AMG. In the Endurance Cup, they will be joined by a new addition in Matteo Cairoli, who recently departed Lamborghini and was previously a factory driver with Porsche. Cairoli has three overall wins to his name and led Huber Motorsport to Bronze Cup victory at the 2023 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
The team will continue to run with different names in Sprint and Endurance this term: in the former, it will use Winward Racing Team Mann-Filter; in the latter, it will continue to be known as Mercedes-AMG Racing Team Mann-Filter. In both cases, the #48 machine will continue to carry the much-loved "Mann-Filter Mamba" livery.
Winward Racing has also announced a full-season Bronze Cup line-up for 2025. Rinat Salikhov and Gabriele Piana will enter the full 10-round campaign aboard the #81 Mercedes-AMG, with Marvin Dienst joining for the Endurance rounds. Salikhov, who returns to the series for the first time since 2019, secured Pro-Am honours at the 24 Hours of Spa in 2018, while Piana secured Silver Cup honours in the Ardennes in 2020.
The team will head to Circuit Paul Ricard next week to undertake the official Prologue (10/11 March), while the season-opening Endurance Cup race takes place at the same venue on 11–13 April.