HWA's Mercedes 190E Believes It Can Triumph in the World's Greatest Race | Carscoops

      HWA announced during this year's Nurburgring 24 Hours that it will field two cars in the 2026 race.

      HWA will compete with two Evos in the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours, with these Mercedes 190-based supersedans set to race in the SP-X class. Development versions of the cars will conduct demo laps at this weekend's event.

      While the Evo already looks the part as a race car, HWA aims to demonstrate that it possesses the performance to match its striking appearance. HWA confirmed it is entering two cars in the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours, designed as a modern reinterpretation of the Mercedes 190 Evolution II.

      This announcement surfaced at the ongoing 2025 N24 event, where the company showcased two of its development vehicles adorned in racing livery, offering a preview of their appearance on the track.

      Additionally, the cars will perform demo laps driven by renowned German motorsport legends Roland Asch and Klaus Ludig, who raced the original Evo IIs in the early 1990s. Asch famously took his Evo II to victory in the Nurburgring GP track round of the 1992 DTM season, a win that contributed to Mercedes’s championship that year. Ludwig also triumphed at a later race weekend, which featured both the GP track and the historic Norschleife, serving as a support event for that year’s N24.

      Over the next year, Asch and Ludig will assist HWA in refining the race variants of the €776,000 ($872,000) Evo road car. However, a different set of drivers—names still to be confirmed—will be at the controls during the race in June 2026.

      HWA acknowledges that while it won't be competitive enough to aim for an overall victory due to the speed of the leading GT3-class cars, it believes it has a strong chance to excel in the SP-X experimental class.

      "Motorsport is part of our DNA, and therefore part of the HWA EVO," stated Martin Marx, CEO of HWA. "As the first road car under the HWA name, we felt it was essential to develop the project in accordance with this legacy."

      The Evolution's Legacy

      This heritage extends beyond the Evo's resemblance to the Evolution II, which ultimately helped Mercedes defeat BMW's formidable M3 in the DTM. HWA’s founder, Hans Werner Aufrecht, co-founded AMG nearly 60 years ago and previously oversaw Mercedes’ 190 race program, as well as the subsequent C-Class and CLK projects.

      After selling AMG to Benz in 1998, Aufrecht established HWW and continued to manage Mercedes' motorsport activities. Following this, the company chose to create its own road car when Mercedes decided to internalize its racing operations.

      Limited Edition Evo Road Cars and Future Aspirations

      Most of the 100 planned Evos have been pre-sold ahead of production set to begin next year, with each vehicle equipped with a bi-turbo V6 engine producing up to 493 hp (500 PS). In a recent interview with Carscoops, HWA's CTO, Gordian von Schöning, suggested that the company plans to follow the Evo with another 1990s-inspired Mercedes-based vehicle featuring V8 power. Ultimately, their ambition is to develop a brand-new hypercar of its own design before the decade concludes.