Mercedes-Benz hosts F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard at the Festival of Motoring, Kyalami

Mercedes-Benz hosts F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard at the Festival of Motoring, Kyalami

August 27, 2016 • News, Road

Mercedes-Benz is delighted to host F1 13 time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, at the opening of the Festival of Motoring at the Kyalami Race Track on 31 August.

“We are very pleased to welcome David Coulthard, who is also member of the Mercedes-AMG family, to our AMG Performance Tour at the inaugural Festival of Motoring at the Kyalami race track,” says Selvin Govender, Marketing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars.

“As a fair sportsman and well-liked personality, David is perfectly suited to represent AMG, a brand with a rich motorsport history of almost 50 years. As a Formula one race winner, former DTM driver and one of the leading F1 broadcasters in the world, David Coulthard has extensive know-how which makes him an extremely knowledgeable partner for the engineers when configuring new AMG high-performance models,” adds Govender.

Impressive Formula 1 career, DTM driver for Mercedes-Benz since 2010

David Coulthard began his career in kart racing, becoming Scottish Junior Kart Champion from 1983 to 1985. Absolving various stages in Formula racing, he joined the Williams Formula 1 team in 1994. In 1995 David Coulthard achieved third place in the Formula 1 World Championship. At the start of the 1996 season he moved to McLaren Mercedes, becoming a team colleague of Mika Häkkinen (Finland). In 2001 Coulthard became runner up of World Champion ship behind Michael Schumacher. From 2005 to 2008 he drove for Red Bull Racing, ending his Formula 1 career in 2008. Between 1994 and 2008 David Coulthard competed in a total of 246 Grand Prix races, 150 of them for McLaren-Mercedes, achieving 13 victories of which 12 were for McLaren-Mercedes.

David Coulthard has been a member of the Mercedes-Benz family since 1996, and also joined AMG the exciting high-performance brand as a Brand Ambassador since 2012. David Coulthard has since undertaken a number of marketing campaigns for the brand, including the successful E 63 AMG, where he demonstrates the qualities of this high-performance sedan. David is also active as an expert instructor at the AMG Driving Academy.

David is also a Laureus Ambassador and he has volunteered his time to support the work of Laureus Sport for Good in helping improve the lives of young people through sport.

Since its inception, Laureus Sport for Good has raised over €100 million and supported over 150 projects worldwide which use sport to tackle violence, discrimination and disadvantage. Laureus Sport for Good has helped to improve the lives of millions of young people in over 35 countries and is proving that sport can change the world.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa are proud Country Patron of Laureus Sport for Good Foundation here in South Africa and currently support over 19 projects throughout the country. To showcase the incredible work of the foundation, in partnership with our dealerships countrywide, Mercedes-Benz actively support specific Laureus Breakfasts focusing on all major sporting events. A number of sporting celebrities, together with local Laureus Ambassadors, present their involvement and achievements of their respective projects.

Mercedes-AMG GT3 and AMG GT S to wow the crowds

A further highlight of the AMG Performance Tour at the Festival of Motoring is the customer racing car, the Mercedes-AMG GT3. A select group of Mercedes-AMG customers will be able to experience a hot-lap or two with the AMG Driving Academy professional drivers at the wheel of the AMG GT 3 during a number of test laps on the track.

The Mercedes-AMG GT3 has surpassed expectations in customer sports with its intelligent vehicle concept. The excellent racetrack performance of the standard AMG GT already provides the best possible basis for this. The new Mercedes-AMG GT3, with its sonorous sound of the V8 engine, allows the Mercedes-Benz sports car and high-performance brand to systematically expand its motorsports presence. Developed to comply with the FIA’s GT3 race rules, this racing car successfully competes in the world’s most hotly contested customer race series.

The Mercedes-AMG GT3 had a perfect debut in the Nürburgring 24-hour race. The teams that ran the new customer sports car for the first time in the classic endurance race in the Eifel secured a historic victory including a clean sweep of the podium for the brand and a total of five cars finishing in the top six. In the race, marked by extremely changeable weather conditions, drivers, teams and cars equally shone with a consistent high performance level, huge reliability and good race strategies.

Almost three months after the historic quadruple victory in the 24-hour race, the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 scores its next success at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife: customer teams secured first place after 28 laps in the 39th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen – a round of the VLN endurance racing championship.

The Mercedes-AMG GT3 consistently scores in the top ten results in these classic endurance races that remains thrilling till the end. The new AMG GT3 is based on the Mercedes-AMG GT and both models will dazzle patrons on the Performance Track at the Festival of Motoring.

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