AMG chief executive Tobias Moers says his company has made Erebus Motorsport a final offer to extend its current Customer Sports agreement into the 2015 V8 Supercars Championship.
Discussions between the team and AMG have been ongoing throughout the season ahead of the end of their initial two-year deal.
AMG Customer Sports boss Jochen Bitzer visited the recent Sandown 500 alongside Mercedes-Benz Australia representatives, where both parties declared their desire to continue the V8 Supercars program.
While that marked a positive contrast to the negativity expressed by Moers and MBA last year, the German has made it clear that there will be no uplift of the relationship beyond its current customer status.
“We had a great communication, we had good discussion, we made our point and they know what our point is. Now it’s up to them,” Moers told motoring.com.au at the Paris motor show.
“We have made offers, the maximum we can do. And that is what it is.
“This is the open point I always discussed; it is not a factory engagement and there is no intention from our side to do that.
“But I think we have a good understanding of what the future is in 2015 and that is it.”
Moers stressed that he is sympathetic to Erebus’ situation, with team owner Betty Klimenko having invested heavily in developing the AMG V8 Supercars engine.
“I know Betty invested a huge amount of money in that team and I think it’s fair enough from our side to have a relationship which is OK for us and for them,” he said.
“And if you invest that huge amount of money for two years racing that’s not good.
“I care. It’s not that I don’t care because I know about the situation.”
Erebus has had well-publicised discussions with Volvo about a potential manufacturer switch next season, although any such deal would also likely come with minimal factory backing.
Volvo Car Australia has said that it will finalise the make-up of its 2015 V8 Supercars campaign this month.
Discussion about this post