AMG brand ambassador Maro Engel has been familiar with the DTM since 2008 already. Even in his early days in the Class 1 era, Maro hinted at his driving potential with regular top 10 finishes before making a name for himself as one of the fastest GT3 drivers in the years that followed. In 2017, he returned to the DTM for a year and celebrated his maiden win. One year after the transition to GT3 cars, the next comeback opportunity opened up for Maro. Last season, he took his second victory at Zandvoort and finished the year in tenth place overall. In 2024, he will compete with a special livery to mark the 130th anniversary of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

You have a lot of experience in the DTM, but this year you also made the switch to a different team. What are your expectations taking on this task?
Maro Engel: “Of course, I am looking forward to the season with Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD. They have been successful in DTM for several years and they are a very professional team with a lot of experience. There are some familiar faces for me. In this respect, the co-operation immediately felt great and we are all looking forward to the season. Last year didn’t go the way we wanted for us at Mercedes-AMG. The hunger for success is all the greater this year. We are obviously looking forward to getting started. We want to attack and fight for podiums and victories for Mercedes-AMG again.”

Is it important to have familiar faces in this new environment?
Maro Engel: “Of course, that always makes it a bit easier. If you've been involved in motorsport for a long time, like I have, you always see familiar faces. I've already celebrated successes with some people in the past, and it's great when I cross paths with them again and have the chance to work together once more. Of course, there are also new colleagues for me, but WINWARD is a well-practiced team. Everyone here knows what they have to do and together, we want to realise this enormous potential.”

For you, joining a new team also means having a new teammate in Lucas Auer…
Maro Engel: “I have known Lucas for many years now and we also raced together in the Class 1 era. We also have the great advantage of being in the same car this year in GT World Challenge Europe. He is a great guy and I am looking forward to working with him. I think that we will both push each other a lot and be able to take the team forward as a result.”

Are you looking forward to the new rivalry with a new team-mate?
Maro Engel: “Of course, in motorsport, your team-mate is the first one you have to beat. That much is clear, but I believe that this rivalry can also be very fruitful. We have a very good relationship with each other, which helps us both to push each other to peak performance. Everyone wants to beat the other, that's entirely normal. I expect this constellation to have a positive effect for us.”

What is the difference in the approach for sprint and endurance races for you?
Maro Engel: “In DTM, the brands enter their best drivers. It’s about extracting everything from your package. Of course, GT World Challenge, for example, is also at an incredibly high level, but more compromises are made in endurance racing because the drivers share the car. There are more cars on track and it’s not just about speed, but about many factors in order to realise the full potential of your car. From that perspective, DTM is certainly the pinnacle of our sport in terms of performance density. The title also comes with a lot of prestige."

You've been racing in DTM since 2008 and have experienced different eras. In which way has the racing series changed for you over the years?
Maro Engel: “DTM is fantastic motorsport. The series simply stands for incredibly thrilling and close competition, with wheel-to-wheel duels and the odd trading of paint. That was the case in 2008, it is the case today and it was the case back in the 90s when I was a kid watching it on TV. Racing here is really hard and intense and that is what the fans want to see. What I personally like about the current generation of GT3 racing is the variety of brands and the different characters of the cars. Each one has its own distinctive sound. There is a certain closeness to series production in the vehicle concepts, which makes all the cars individual.”

You race with a special livery in DTM. What is it that you personally associate with 130 years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport?
Maro Engel: “It is a great honour for me to be driving with this fantastic livery that marks our great motorsport heritage. 130 years is an incredible number. All the successes, the motorsport legends, the cars and the drivers associated with them. The whole world knows the Silver Arrows, the legendary drivers, from Juan Manuel Fangio and Mika Häkkinen to Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Of course, we are also part of this history with DTM. I like to think back to the legendary 1990s with Klaus Ludwig and Bernd Schneider, who was and is something of a mentor to me and whom I cheered on as a fan back when I was a child. I am really proud to be able to drive and present this livery. The aim is to further expand this incredible history and the success story this year.”

Which moments from your DTM career do you remember in particular?
Maro Engel: “First of all, I would say that my DTM career is still unfinished. For various reasons, it hasn't been enough to win the title so far, whereas it has worked out all the better in many other series. Of course, the victories, pole positions and podium results are the highlights. We are clearly looking ahead to the upcoming season. Of course, the big goal is to win the championship, but you can’t plan something like that. There is a lot of hard work behind it, something we are willing to invest and we will try to deliver our best possible performance in the races - and in the end the points will be added up.”

How do you optimise your preparation for a new season as a driver?
Maro Engel: “Of course, you have a huge responsibility as a driver. It is your job to be mentally and physically ready for all the challenges and you also have the responsibility to make full use of all the resources together with the team. From the test sessions and briefings to analysing mistakes from the previous season. There is quite something we have to prepare for in order to maximise our package. But that applies to any form of motorsport and, indeed, probably anywhere in life. You always have to make progress, because standing still means going backwards in this context.”