Engel has Unfinished Business
Success in V8 Supercars remains a goal for Maro Engel despite a tough rookie season that ended with him losing his seat at the Erebus team for 2014.
The German was dropped in the deep end in 2013 with no prior V8 Supercars knowledge and virtually no experience of Australian tracks. Car performance was also an issue as Erebus V8 rushed to the grid with under-developed AMG E63s for Engel and teammates Lee Holdsworth and Tim Slade.
Engel ended up 28th in the Championship and then lost his drive as the team cut back from three to two cars for 2014. Slade is moving to Walkinshaw Racing, while Holdsworth is being joined by a new teammate who will be revealed in January.
Engel is being offered a drive with the Erebus GT operation for 2014, but so far has only verbally agreed with team CEO Ryan Maddison to race in the Bathurst 12-hour in February in an AMG SLS GT3.
“I came here to race V8 Supercars and race them successfully,” Engel told v8supercars.com.au. “I still believe that I can.
“There have been moments this year where the pace has been very encouraging. I think we have had a very poor year in terms of luck and reliability; that’s racing, those things turn around.”
Engel’s best results were qualifying ninth in Perth and finishing in the same position in Darwin. Otherwise he rarely threatened the top 15.
“It’s a great Championship and the racing is really good,” the Monaco-based former F3 and DTM racer said. “It’s just obviously been a struggle with the cars.
“It was difficult in my first year, in anyone’s first year here, but then add on top of that obviously we didn’t quite have the cars as fast as we wanted them, so that added some difficulty.
“It’s been something of a crazy poor run in terms of luck and reliability in general this year ... In general terms I’ve enjoyed the racing in the series and I’m sure it’s something I can succeed at. Like anyone really all of us drivers are so dependent on the car we’re given.”
In the midst of his V8 Supercars struggles the 28-year old reminded the racing world of his talent when he qualified on pole for the Macau GT Cup in November in an Erebus SLS GT3. He was headed for the win in front of a quality international field until a puncture ended his chances.
“I never doubted my driving. It was great to be in Macau and given the car there I was given I could produce what no-one thought was possible… It was certainly confidence boosting, unfortunately it doesn’t quite stack up why it has been such a struggle in V8s.”
He says there are still issues to be resolved with Erebus before he makes any further commitments beyond the 12-hour to other GT races or a PIRTEK Enduro Cup co-drive – if that is offered.
“At the moment I have a contract with Erebus V8 for next year so the first thing that needs to be done is find an agreement on that; how to move forward with the team.
“Once we have done that then we can go into details with the team regarding GT. Clearly, they are a very good GT team and if it all works well then it would be nice to do some races with them. But it would be hard to say how many and so on.
“We have to tidy up a few things first, then we can move on and see what else is available and I can move on to see what is best for my career.”
