The successful day of competition for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams at CTMP also saw Robinson Racing and Shane Lewis break through to give the Mercedes-AMG GT4 its first podium finish in North American competition during Saturday afternoon's Pirelli World Challenge Sprint GTS race.

A Canadian native competing on his home track, Morad didn't let day-long rain showers and a lengthy fog delay distract his focus in winning both the pole Saturday morning and that afternoon's 50-minute sprint race.

Battling through a steady downpour throughout the 20-minute qualifying session, Morad repeatedly swapped fastest laps with a pair of Porsche competitors before locking down the pole with a top time of 1:29.331 on his 11th and final flying lap.

After a more than two-hour delay to the race start due to rain and heavy fog, Morad took control from the drop of the green flag. He quickly opened up to a comfortable lead and then skillfully managed his rain tires on a drying track in the closing minutes for a 4.576-second margin of victory.

Saturday's victory was the first podium finish for CRP Racing and Morad in Pirelli World Challenge GT Sprint series competition since posting a pair of third-place finishes in the season-opening race weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Morad and CRP also earned a second-place finish in the No. 2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Pirelli World Challenge SprintX series competition at Circuit of The Americas in March. Additionally, Morad and CRP topped SprintX GT qualifying at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) one race ago and are now a pole-perfect two-for-two in Pirelli World Challenge GT qualifying.

Saturday's win also gave the Mercedes-AMG GT3 it's second-straight Pirelli World Challenge win following a victory by the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 last month at VIR.

In the GTS class, the podium showing with Robinson Racing and driver Shane Lewis capped a strong day of competition for the first-year Pirelli World Challenge team.

Gar Robinson qualified a personal-best fifth on Saturday morning in the No. 74 Robinson Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 and was joined on row three of the GTS starting grid by Lewis in the sister No. 72 Robinson Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.

Lewis improved three positions to take the checkered flag in third place – the first podium finish for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 in North America in any series – while Robinson ran in the lead pack throughout the race for his own season-best finish of sixth.

The Pirelli World Challenge doubleheader weekend at CTMP concludes Sunday with the final 50-minute sprint races for both the GT and GTS classes.

The final GTS race of the weekend is scheduled to start on Sunday at 10:05 a.m. EDT while the GT race is scheduled to start at 4:05 p.m. EDT green flag. Both races can be viewed live at stream.world-challenge.com/.

Daniel Morad, Driver – No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: "I'm really happy to deliver the team's first win of the year. I think it was a long time coming, due to the bad luck we've had in the past races. We're quick for pole positions, but never delivering that final product with the race win, and to do it in front of my home track fans is really nice. We had pole position in the rain, took the victory in the wet, and it was really nice to deliver that win. I've won here in the past, and to do it again is really cool. I hope to do it again tomorrow. I just want to say thanks to Mercedes- AMG for all of the support, all of our sponsors and CRP Racing. They just gave me an amazing Mercedes-AMG GT3."

Shane Lewis, Driver – No. 72 Robinson Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: "It was just an amazing day. I am super proud to represent Robinson Racing and Mercedes- AMG. It's an honor to be the driver to get that first podium for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 car anywhere in North America. I couldn't be happier, I am proud of my team, I am proud of my teammate Gar Robinson, and everybody has been working so hard on this program. All of that hard work showed today. The combination of the Mercedes-AMG GT4 and the flow of this race track was the key to being on this podium. We still have work to do as a team, I still have work to do as a driver in this car, but this type of flowing and high-speed track is what we were looking for."

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Contacts:

Jochen Übler Tel.: +49 (0) 7144 302-92 470 [email protected]
Robert Moran Tel.: +1 770-705-2270 [email protected]

Further information from Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Benz USA is available on the Internet: www.media.daimler.com, www.mercedes-benz.com and www.mbusa.com.

For more information on AMG Customer Sports, please visit www.mercedes- amg.com/customerracing.