Black Falcon says goodbye to GT3 racing

One of the leading Mercedes customer teams announced that it will leave the GT3 market with immediate effect, with crowned outfit Black Falcon leaving quite a lot of history to focus in its other commitments as it aims for its survival.

Black Falcon has its operations focused mostly in Germany, as the team is specially known for its prowess at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the NLS (formely known as VLN) and at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, with titles in the series and two overall wins in the 24 hour race, with the new Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo being the only Mercedes GT3 model that hasn’t had a win at Eifel with the Meuspath-based squad, adding to several NLS wins.

Black Falcon also has its records at international level, with five overall wins at the Dubai 24 Hours, known for the joint effort with Abu Dhabi Racing, and the 2018 season saw the team conquer the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in both drivers and teams. Curiously, one of the impacts of Black Falcon’s exit is that they won’t defend their overall win at Dubai in 2021, at least not as a team.

According to the team’s statement, the key reason for why backing off from GT3 racing is that the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic cut off most of the income and the opportunities for income that would complete the budget for the program, as not only the motorsport support was halted but there’s also the fact that guests and spectators won’t be allowed on racing events for quite a long time.

The current time will be for focus support for its customers and partners, and Black Falcon knows how to do this pretty well, even while having its own team in action. You can take as example the support to competitors in the Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge, like CRAFT-Bamboo Racing, GruppeM Racing and GoodSmile Racing, and the good job is shown at the results produced, with a runner-up finish at the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour as the highlight.

With other commitments in Porsche Cup, GT4, BMW Cup and other classes, Black Falcon has a lot of work to do once racing is resumed, but it was clearly explained that immediate support will be for German efforts, with opportunity of expansion in the winter. The exit from GT3 racing is also treated as momentary, with possibility for return after the end of 2021.

To fill the slot left void by Black Falcon, one of its long time drivers, Hubert Haupt, created his own team to stay in GT World Challenge Europe, NLS and 24 Hours of Nürburgring, named Haupt Racing Team, which is set to field a Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo in the mentioned competitions.

PHOTOS - Black Falcon, Hubert Haupt