Maro Engel – An exciting end to my first season – Review Part 3
After a great Christmas break with a wonderful New Year’s eve, I would like to review the last races of my first DTM season and take a small outlook into 2009. First of all I hope that all of you had a great start into this New Year. I have already started with my physical preparation again, but more about that later.
With DTM round eight we came to a racetrack that I was very familiar with: Brands Hatch. Only one year before I drove there in Formula 3 and quite honestly, I felt like coming home. The track is short and not easy to drive, but in the practice sessions I felt really comfortable and managed to be the best placed 2007 C-Class in all sessions up to qualifying. In the actual qualifying Gary Paffet had a little more luck, and beat me narrowly. The whole team was looking forward to the race on Sunday. But things came a lot different than expected. Already at the second corner, I was pushed into a spin and had to rejoin the field in last position. During my first pitstop the next disappointment was soon to follow as the wheel gun at the front right broke just as the mechanic was trying to change the wheel. In moments like these there is not much one can do, nor the team nor myself are at fault and it was just one of those days as they say.
From England the trucks headed to Spain, more precisely to Barcelona. I had never been to this track in my career previously. So first of all I had to start with learning the track, which I managed very quickly. In qualifying again Gary Paffet was my benchmark, he managed to beat me by a tenth of a second. Reason enough to go highly motivated into the race. The slow puncture on lap 5 effectively ruined my race as this meant an extra pitstop to the 2 mandatory stops.
In Le Mans I experienced a weekend with very mixed emotions. In the second practice session a small error had very serious consequences for the rear of my car. I crashed heavily into the armco barrier and destroyed the entire rear of my car. After working all night my mechanics managed the impossible and repaired the car to hand me a car which was maybe even in a better state than before the crash. They really did a fantastic job! The guys are simply the best, it must be said. In the warm-up the next problem occurred, the gear sensor had given up. Until just before the start my crew was still working on the car. I thought that this time the mechanics would not managed to get it ready in time, but they managed once again. Unfortunately I could not reward all the hard work during the race as I had to pit 5 times due to the constantly changing weather conditions.
With these three rather negative experiences I travelled to the season final at Hockenheim. I wanted show my team and you, my fans, what I’m made of and come back strong. It was great to see the progress I had made during the season. I was 0.5 seconds quicker per lap on average. And also with the final race the luck came back again. With Gary Paffet and Alexandre Prémat I had some great fights, I put a lot of pressure on Gary, even swapping places and being careful that Prémat did not overtake me. This was pure Racing and was great fun. I think the three of us offered a great show to the fans.
All in all, I am satisfied with my first season in the DTM. After all, I recorded the most fastest race-laps of all Mercedes-2007 cars. Nevertheless, I know that I can and must improve. That is why I also started immediately with the training after a short vacation. Fitness is my primary focus during this winter period. Unfortunately I cannot announce my plans for 2009 yet, but I look to the future positively. As soon as I know more, I will let you know. But I am sure: we will see each other at the circuit.
CU Maro.