Following in the tire tracks of the 1450S and 1834S, the Atego race truck represented the third stage in the Mercedes-Benz race truck development program. The truck was powered by V6 engine providing output of 1100 kW (1495 hp). In 1998, its first season, Ludovic Faure drove the Atego to the European Truck Racing Cup (ETRC) title in the Super Race Class for purpose-built race trucks. In 2000 Atego finished runner up in the standings. Mercedes-Benz withdrew from truck racing at the end of the 2001 season.
In the 1998 ETRC season Atego was used by five teams including Tiger Racing Team Dehnhardt with French driver Ludovic Faure. Faure was born in 1966, won the Volant Elf on the Paul Ricard circuit in 1986, raced in Formula Renault and Formula 3, being one of most promising young French formula drivers. He was French Formula Renault Turbo Champion in 1988, 3rd in French F3 in 1989 and 2nd in 1990. His formula career ended in 1992 due to lack of sponsors, and Faure started truck racing in 1995 becoming an official Mercedes France driver in the team managed by Gérard Cuynet. He remained with Mercedes until 1997 when DAF recruited him. Unfortunately the reliability of the Dutch truck was disastrous and he signed for the 1998 season in the Tiger Racing Team Dehnhardt winning the championship. On his way to the title Faure won six races – all four heats (two Qualification races and two Cup races) at Nurburgring, and QR and CR at Donington. Faure remained in the Hans Dehnhard’s team until 2002, then briefly drove for Buggyra in 2004, finishing SRT runner-up a tough season against former Mercedes team-mate Markus Oestreich. In 2012 Faure briefly returned to French truck racing cup with Lion Truck Racing.
Mercedes Benz Atego racing car scale models in 1/43 was initially produced by Schuco in their Junior Line series, and then the same models were issued by Minichamps, High Speed and Corgi Toys.
| Season | Series | Event |
| 1998 | ETR Cup | |
| Driver | No. | Entrant |
| Ludovic Faure | 7 | Tiger Racing Team Dehnhardt |
| Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
| 1:43 | Minichamps | |
| Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
| 439980307 | 
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