Toto Wolff, returning from Jeddah, thought it best to pay a visit to Imola. The Mercedes CEO and team principal was in full fireproof gear in the pit lane of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari on Monday morning. Not in the guise of the Star's manager, but as a driver. Waiting for him in the pits was the blue Mercedes-AMG GT3 of AKM Motorsport and a crew from Netflix to film the next season of “Drive to survive”.
Wolff took on the role of the driver for a day of leisure: in 2002 Toto had raced in the FIA NGT world championship, finishing in sixth place with a victory at Oschersleben, a second place and two thirds with the Autorlando Sport Porsche. In 2004 he won a round of the Italian GT championship with the Ferrari 550 Maranello of JMB Racing shared with Lorenzo Casé, while in 2006 he won the 24 Hours of Dubai.
Toto Wolff in Imola on the AKM Motorsport Mercedes GT3 of Marco and Kimi Antonelli
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
Waiting for him in the Imola garage was Marco Antonelli, owner of AKM Motorsport (acronym for Andrea Kimi Marco), and father of the young Bolognese talent that Mercedes is nurturing in its youth program in F2.
Marco Antonelli, a popular former SuperTurismo driver, did a few laps of deliberation in the morning before entrusting the Mercedes-AMG GT3 to Toto Wolff. The Austrian began lapping the challenging Santerno track in a cautious manner, improving his pace lap after lap. Since he hadn't driven a race car in a while, the approach was gradual before getting to a set of new tyres.
With the asphalt still having some damp spots from the heavy rain that fell on Sunday, Wolff lost control of the car at Rivazza and hit the front right. The car, recovered in the pits, is being repaired: the aim is to get Toto back on track in the afternoon before Kimi Andrea arrives from school to end the day.
It is clear that a feeling has been created between the great Mercedes boss and his protégé that goes beyond just the professional relationship and it is not the first time that Toto has participated as a driver in the Antonelli family's training sessions. The Netflix crew certainly had material to shoot very interesting scenes…
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