Marciello’s second victory in as many attempts in the world’s most prestigious competition for GT3 cars closed a highly successful chapter with the Three-Pointed Star, which began as a customer driver in 2016 and culminated in a standout triumph in Macau.

Asked to pick out one highlight driving with Mercedes-AMG power, Marciello said: “It’s difficult because we won so many things, we didn’t have many lows actually. When I look back we won everything except Bathurst and Nürburgring more or less. It’s quite a lot if I look back, all the Macau wins, Spa, ADAC GT Masters…

“There were many, many nice moments and I will miss it. For sure it will not be easy to repeat it but I will try my best. This was my last gift for AMG and now I hope I will not be beaten by them!”

Marciello marked his Mercedes-AMG farewell by commissioning a special crash helmet design to “show my gratitude to all my team-mates, teams and AMG which I race in those fantastic seven years”, the Swiss-born racer wrote on Instagram.

Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Stefan Wendl said: “In the past days I have spoken so much about this time we shared together, starting with the 2016 season when he was a customer of us. I tried to get him under contract and it paid out I have to say.

“We won championships, big races, we went to Macau and won the World Cup, I enjoyed these years together and I wish him really good luck for his personal goals in the future. We will still see him and he will remain part of our AMG family forever.”

Driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf in the sixth running of the FIA GT World Cup, Marciello beat Edoardo Mortara to first place by 2.510s as five manufacturers featured in the top six.

“The race is for me personally one of the best races all over the world,” the 28-year-old Marciello said.  “It is an honour to start here. Last year I did 10 days’ quarantine to be allowed to start in the local GT race. This time it was also very special to go there as the event was the FIA GT World Cup again after a longer break due to Covid.

“Macau is never easy because a mistake is always around the corner but it was a great race and I’m happy to finish my AMG life in this way,” concluded the Italian, who since the beginning of the 2022 season has been a Swiss racing license holder.

This year marked the return of the FIA Formula 3 and GT World Cups to the schedule of the Macau Grand Prix for the first time since 2019, due to the pandemic situation.

FIA GT World Cup winners

2023: Raffaele Marciello (CHE) Mercedes-AMG
2019: Raffaele Marciello (ITA) Mercedes-AMG
2018: Augusto Farfus (BRA) BMW
2017: Edoardo Mortara (CHE) Mercedes-Benz
2016: Laurens Vanthor (BEL) Audi
2015: Maro Engel (DEU) Mercedes-Benz