Mercedes names line-up for Nurburgring 24 Hours title defence

Two of the entries under the Mercedes-AMG Performance Teams banner will be fielded by two-time race winner outfit Black Falcon, with HTP running another two cars and Haribo Racing Team in charge of the final car.

The big name on the driver front is Mercedes DTM signing Edoardo Mortara, who will run with HTP Motorsport in his first Nurburgring race for the Silver Arrows - having previously contested the event with Volkswagen and Audi.

Joining the Italian in the car will be regulars Dominik Baumann and Maximilian Buhk, as well as fellow newcomer Edward Sandstrom - who, like Mortara, spent the last few years in the Audi camp.

The other HTP car features Stefan Mucke, Christian Hohenadel and returnee Nico Bastian - with Baumann set for double duty.

The Black Falcon crew that won the 2016 race is mostly unchanged, with newly-signed Mercedes DTM driver Maro Engel, Adam Christodoulou and Manuel Metzger staying on, while Yelmer Buurman moves from the team's other car to take Bernd Schneider's spot.

Engel is set for double duty across the two Black Falcon entries, joined in the second car by Thomas Jager, Dirk Muller and Jan Seyffarth, who arrives from Haribo.

Going from HTP to Haribo, meanwhile, is Renger van der Zande, partnering team regulars Lance David Arnold, Maximilian Gotz and Uwe Alzen in the sole entry.

Black Falcon, HTP and Customer Racing Team Landgraf are also expected to separately run one additional Mercedes-AMG GT3 each.