LG Barcelona, the first AMG Performance dealer in Spain, collaborates with Nil Montserrat's team (NM Racing Team) to promote this sports category. In addition, jointly and when COVID allows, we are preparing exclusive experiences for special LG Barcelona customers.
1. Why did you decide to create NM Racing Team?
From a very young age (17 years old) I combined my sports career with training of young karting drivers and accompanying my friends to the circuits.
After a long sporting life full of successes dedicated to high competition, I was forced to take a step back as a driver due to lack of sponsors and in 2016 I decided to professionalize as a sports coach.
The Rosa dels Vents Group collaborates with this team project for young drivers, providing the economic and financial strength necessary to become a solid sporting and business project.
2. How would you define NM Racing Team?
El The main objective of NM Racing Team is the sports and professional training of competition drivers..
NM is a team with about very clear sporting and ethical values of which we feel very faithful. Values that are also shared by all the people who are part of the team. We consider that working as a team and therefore a good work environment are a necessity and a common objective.
We are a professional and transparent team with our clients. We believe that our treatment is familiar, close and very professional with all our pilots.
3. What is important to highlight about NM Racing Team?
At Nm Racing Team we work with different types of drivers. In the beginning we worked mainly in the training of young pilots who were looking for sporting results and becoming professional in this sport in order to one day become professional pilots.
Over the years we have been opening up the possibilities and currently also we work with Gentlemans pilots.
The Gentlemans are non-professional drivers between 30 and 60 years old with a great love for motors, who want to get started in motor sports and racing without the intention of becoming professional, only as a hobby or hobby..
There are different types of Gentleman, from those who train with some regularity and do 2 or 3 races per year each year with the aim of improving little by little.
Although there are also Gentlemans who do it as a lifestyle since they train physically intensely and seek goals every year to reach as high as possible within their category.
Is a satisfaction for the NM team to be able to say that we have Gentlemans who race in the European championships!
The figure of the Gentleman is still little known in the motor world in Spain, this does not happen in other European countries such as France, England or Germany where this profile of driver has been participating in very important races for some time.
In the Gran Turismo (GT) category, Gentleman pilots participate more every year and the Gentleman categories currently have a high sporting level.
In 2020 at the European championship, there were 15 cars on the grid driven by Gentlemans.
In the championships, within the same category, two classifications are made: the first for semi-professional pilots and the second for Gentleman pilots, which encourages a lot of motivation from the pilots.
4. Who is NM Racing Team made up of?
Laura Pagés: is the Team Manager, who is in charge of the logistical organization of the team and who manages the accounting and legal part of the team.
Lluís Sueiro: he is the chief mechanic and responsible for all the mechanics of the team's cars.
Manu Catalan: chief engineer and person in charge of data management and the computer/electronic part of the cars.
Together with him we are in charge of designing the strategies of each driver in each race.
Finally, I, Nil Motserrat, am the sports technical director, driver coach and who is in charge of making the physical preparations and organizing the entire technical team of the team.
5. What cars do you have? What categories do they run in? What are the main differences?
We currently have two Mercedes-AMG GT4 that in 2021 they will participate in the European Championship with 4 young drivers - two drivers per car - and in the French GT4 championship with 4 drivers - two for each car -.
In France there is a lot of motor sport culture and many Gentleman amateur drivers. The French championship is one of the most important championships in Europe and with the highest level for Gentleman pilots.
For many years we have also participated in the Spanish endurance championship held in Montmeló.
If the calendar allows it this year, another race that we want to do is the legendary 24 Hours of Barcelona, of which we have great memories since we won the 2017 and 2018 editions and it was our first international victory.
We also have a Formula 4 car which is the smaller brother of the single-seaters. We use this car mainly for pdrivers who come from karting since it is a great introductory car to the big circuits. With them we do training for the youngest drivers so that they can later safely transition to the Mercedes.
6. Why AMG?
When we decided to choose the model for the GT4 we were always very clear about which brand we wanted to work with.
The Mercedes is one of the most balanced and competitive cars on the grid and has better performance than all the others. It must also be said that it is the most expensive but also the one with the best cornering and the one that best preserves its tires until the end of the race.
When other cars increase their times by 1 or 2 seconds per lap - which is a long time - we With the Mercedes we are able to maintain almost the same pace as at the beginning of the race. This makes us very competitive!
Furthermore, the Mercedes brand support, his commitment and effectiveness with the teams is extraordinary. In all the races where we participate, Mercedes brings its truck with all kinds of spare parts for the car in case there is an incident. Added to this is that Mercedes engineers come to all the races and work with the teams that race with Mercedes, helping and collaborating with the set-up of the car. It is a service that we greatly appreciate.
7. What championships have been run in 2020 with the AMG and which have been won?
The year 2020 was our first year with the Mercedes brand. The first months of 2020 we were able to do a lot of training as the team and drivers had to adapt to the new car to get to know it well and be able to get the most out of it.
Subsequently, and due to the COVID19 pandemic, everything stopped, the long confinement caused the 16 races that we had to run throughout the year to be concentrated in just 4 months. It has been crazy since the races were very close together and we had no margin for error. If we failed one, we didn't have time to recover to run the next one.
Despite the very tight schedule, it has been a great year for the team and we have managed to be Gt4 European runners-up (4 wins and a third place), Spanish Endurance Champions and Gtopen International Cup Sub-Champions. -It's been a great year!-
8. Are the GT3 and GT4 engines modified?
The GT3 and GT4 cars have nothing to do with each otherIn the case of the GT3 we are talking about a vehicle for professional or highly experienced drivers. Although they may seem similar since the base is the same (Mercedes-AMG GTR), the GT3 is much larger in size and has much more downforce. The GT3 have 600 HP and the GT4 510 HP and although they share the same block, the rest have nothing to do with each other..
On the other hand, the GT4 is a car designed to take from the first steps to the professionalization of the drivers. When a driver races several seasons with the GT4, improving sportingly, he can later move to GT3. This category is much more demanding on a technical and, above all, physical level.
On the other hand, we cannot modify the GT3 or GT4 engines internally, the engines come from the factory and each year at the end of the season Mercedes reviews them and sealed so that no one can manipulate them. In the championships they check that all the engines have these seals and if you don't have them, they disqualify you. In this way they ensure and certify that all engines are within the legality of the championships.
9. How do the drivers prepare before the race?
Like all athletes, preparations before races are very important. First of all, you need to have a balance diet.
I do their physical preparation, adapting it to the characteristics of each rider and their objectives, but normally they do at least two or three days a week of cardio, whether cycling or going for a run, and save another two days for strength training. .
We do strength training with Zoom to be able to guide you better.
Regarding the cars, before and after each race they undergo exhaustive control checks of each and every one of the mechanical parts, a careful kilometric control is carried out on all the parts that have to be replaced when the manufacturer's protocol dictates it.
Taking care of the health of the drivers and the cars is one of the most important tasks of the team.
In short, at NM Racing Team they are working very hard and precisely for this reason they obtain such good results, you can follow them closely on their Instagram @nmracingteam_
