The next major race in Europe was the Avusrennen, held on the Berlin motorway-circuit. Also held on the same weekend was the Picardy Grand Prix that drew away the top French drivers. To defend German pride and prepare for the new season, the Mercedes-Benz works team was reformed. Still running the SSKL sports-saloon, they had the young Manfred von Brauchitsch back in his streamlined model he had won the previous year's race. Caracciola was to have raced an updated streamlined version, but with his injury team manager Alfred Neubauer called veteran Otto Merz out of retirement. Merz had raced through the '20s and had been the second chauffeur in Sarajevo at the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914. For the high-speed circuit, Bugatti entered the 5-litre Type 54 for Varzi and Williams. "Count" Czaykowski also ran his own Type 54 and had recently set a new 1-hour distance record on the AVUS track. Scuderia Ferrari had Nuvolari, Borzacchini and Siena all running their 2.6-litre Alfas, while Chiron and Hartmann had their 2.3-litre versions.