ACI Motorsports will return to GT World Challenge America in 2027 with a full-season Mercedes-AMG GT3 programme.
The Chattanooga-based team announced the programme on 9 October 2026 with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing. Matt Smith and Yves Baltas will share the No. 74 entry in the Pro-Am class, and preliminary plans call for testing to begin before the end of 2026.
GT3 return adds to ACI’s existing programmes
ACI last competed in GT World Challenge America in 2023 before concentrating on Pirelli GT4 America and North American Porsche single-make series. The official release says those programmes will continue in 2027 while the Mercedes-AMG entry adds the championship’s top GT category to the team’s portfolio.
The expansion therefore requires ACI to support another manufacturer and technical platform alongside its Porsche and BMW customer-racing activity. The announcement does not disclose the number of Mercedes-AMG cars acquired, the test schedule, engineering hires, workshop changes or parts-support arrangement.
Smith and Baltas are current ACI drivers. Smith has competed in Porsche Carrera Cup North America’s Masters class, while Baltas has raced in the team’s Porsche programmes and works as a driver coach. Their prior results provide experience context but are not a forecast of GT3 performance.
Customer-racing partnership has no disclosed term
ACI and Mercedes-AMG described the programme as the start of a new partnership. The release does not state the contract length, car purchase price, factory-support level, sponsor package or performance objectives.
The team says it selected the Mercedes-AMG GT3 after considering its competitive goals and the car’s characteristics. Those are team-reported decision factors. Balance-of-performance conditions will change by event, and MRI has not presented the choice as a guarantee of results.
The verified development is a full-season 2027 Pro-Am entry, a defined driver pairing and a new Mercedes-AMG customer-racing relationship. No feature image has been used because reusable first-party permission was not established. The article is connected to ACI Motorsports’ exact MRI profile. That profile currently has no approved logo asset, so no logo has been invented.