Seven podiums and third overall made for Maro Engel’s strongest DTM campaign yet, 16 years on from his debut. The leading light of Mercedes’ GT roster led its four-strong contingent home in nine of 16 races as it clinched the manufacturers’ crown, while in GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup he never finished lower than fifth to secure the title with Lucas Auer.
Treading a track limits tightrope he’d been handed by Auer to hold off Dries Vanthoor at Hockenheim was a triumph every bit as special as his Macau GT World Cup success. Jeddah Endurance Cup win secured overall GTWCE honours.
Late bloomer is only improving
A first-time entrant in Autosport’s top 50, Maro Engel reckons he should have made the list sooner. He points to the 2019 season in which he and Luca Stolz was only denied the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup title on countback to Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli, and took pole position for both the Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hours, as “one of my strongest years”. But in 2024, Engel reckons he reached new heights.
“I do feel like this year driving-wise has been my strongest yet,” the cheerful 39-year-old says, before adding: “And there's more to come.”
The stats do bear that out. With the caveat that his first four seasons in DTM were in older machinery, his previous best finish had been 10th last year driving for Team Landgraf.
And while there were no wins this year – though “we put ourselves in the right position” to convert pole to victory at the Nurburgring until being spun at the first corner as Rene Rast’s BMW exited the pits – Engel’s podium record matched that of champion Mirko Bortolotti.
Although he modestly points out that his Winward team has delivered consistently excellent pitstops, including a season-best 5.85s at the Hockenheim finale, the 2018 Blancpain GT Endurance Cup champion has more than played his part from behind the wheel. The next best Mercedes driver, Arjun Maini (HRT), was seventh while team-mate Lucas Auer was only 10th.
“Personally, I feel like my racecraft is as good as it's ever been,” Engel explains. “I've really made the most out of many opportunities with strong out-laps, which I really feel has been a strong part for me as well where I've managed to make a difference.”
That proved key in finally scoring a first Sprint Cup title, having also finished second in 2021 with Stolz, edging three-time champions Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts in the WRT BMW. Eight podium finishes from 10 races was a truly remarkable return.
“The Sprint Cup was always a championship which was on my mind, which I really wanted to win,” Engel concedes.
“Looking back on that championship, it was insanely competitive contested between the #32 and us. Hats off to them as well, because it was really crazy. We needed to be on our A-game in every single race, and I couldn't afford to drop the ball at any point.”
Engel certainly didn’t do so at Hockenheim, which he picks out as “the hardest one” of his and Auer’s three Sprint Cup wins.
“Unfortunately Lucas only left me with one free shot of track limits left in what was probably the hardest corner of the year to keep it within track limits, in Turn 1,” Engel remembers.
“I knew if I gave him any chance that [Vanthoor] would just come blasting past me. That was really for me the most satisfying drive of the GT World Challenge Sprint season for me.”
Engel’s fourth win on the streets of Macau, and his second FIA GT World Cup after claiming the inaugural event in 2015, was aided by slightly fortuitous circumstances as Antonio Fuoco and Raffaele Marciello tangled at Lisboa. But Engel, who was penalised five seconds for earlier contact with Vanthoor, had still put himself in the position to capitalise as the best of the Mercedes runners having qualified third in his GruppeM machine.
“It was a great feeling, because it came unexpected,” reflects Engel, who admits he expected Fuoco to clear off once he had passed Marciello moments before the tangle that scuppered their races.
“Luck did come our way when they came together in Lisboa. But for us, the main thing we can be proud about is to have kept that car in contention. You've got to be in it to have a chance, so we're very proud of that. It's obviously the icing on the cake for a great season.”
