Mercedes confirmed a new AMG GT3 is coming, but not for the 2027 season
The new car has been in development since March. It will not be ready to race next season
Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing has confirmed that its next GT3 car, the one AutoNext covered when it was first announced alongside the most radical Black Series yet, will not be homologated in time for the 2027 season. The car is intended to eventually replace the current AMG GT3 Evo, but no launch timetable has been announced, and current customer teams already know they are running the existing car for at least one more year.
What actually changes behind the scenes
The bigger structural story here is not just the delay. Development of the new GT3 is moving from HWA, the outfit that has built and run AMG's GT3 programme for years, to the newly established Affalterbach Racing Company. A car changing hands between two different development organisations is a reasonable explanation for a cautious timeline, even though Mercedes-AMG has not said so directly.
Development is not the visible problem
A camouflaged test car has been spotted doing extensive testing at circuits across Germany and Europe, including a reported appearance at the Nürburgring apparently in the hands of Thomas Jäger. Mercedes-AMG describes the programme as "on track with its timeline," which is technically true and also a convenient way to describe a car that is not racing in 2027. No technical, regulatory, or commercial reason for skipping next season has been given, so treat any explanation beyond the confirmed facts as speculation.
What customer teams already know
Iron Lynx has confirmed it will continue running the current AMG GT3 Evo throughout the 2027 season, and other existing AMG customer teams have made the same commitment. None of this reads as a late scramble. Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing appears to have settled this with its teams well before making it public, which suggests the 2027 gap was planned rather than discovered.
AutoNext Take
"On track with its timeline" is one of those phrases that sounds reassuring until you notice it never actually promises a date. Moving GT3 development from HWA to a brand new in-house operation is a real structural change, and a quiet year without a new homologation is exactly what a manufacturer buys itself while a new organisation gets its processes right. Mercedes-AMG is not wrong to take that time. It would just be more interesting if it said so plainly instead of letting a camouflaged test car do the talking.
