The Mercedes-Benz 190E will return to top-flight motorsport in 2026 when German engineering firm HWA enters its new Evo into the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

It will campaign two examples of the Evo, which was inspired by Mercedes' 190E DTM racer and the homologation special that it spawned, into the race's SP-X class for special vehicles.

It has yet to detail how extensively modified these cars will be, but they appear to remain visually faithful to the original DTM cars, with a low and wide-set stance, turbofan-style wheels and minimal aerodynamic changes from the road car.

The Evo is powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 supplied by Mercedes and mated to a manual gearbox. This produced 443bhp and 405lb ft of torque in its standard configuration, but an optional pack ups the power to 493bhp.

The bodywork is made from fibreglass composite and is slightly more aggressive than that fitted to the original Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II, drawing more closely from the DTM racers. Its kerb weight is rated at 1360kg.

A driver line-up for the race has yet to be announced, but HWA said testing will be conducted by Roland Asch and Klaus Ludwig, who both drove the original 190E in the DTM in the early 1990s.

Indeed, Ludwig drove the Sonax and Hugo Boss-sponsored car from which HWA has drawn heavy inspiration for its own livery.

The commitment to a motorsport programme brings the Evo full circle, given that HWA – established by AMG co-founder Hans Werner Aufrecht and based in Affalterbach – has long supported AMG’s sporting activities.

Its previous projects include building the road-going version of Mercedes' CLK GTR, running Mercedes’ DTM race programme and developing the Mercedes-AMG GT3.