Maro Engel says he’s focussed on putting together a strong finish to his rookie V8 Supercars season amid ongoing uncertainty over Erebus Motorsport’s 2014 structure.
The former Mercedes DTM driver has endured a difficult first season in V8 Supercars, currently sitting 28th in the championship standings having scored just a single top 10 finish.
With Will Davison set to join existing team driver Lee Holdsworth at the Queensland-based outfit next year, Engel will need Erebus to at least remain at three cars, if not expand to four, in order to be retained.
The squad’s current third license is provided by South Australian businessman James Rosenberg who, without any ongoing commitment from Erebus, is being linked to a possible future at Dick Johnson Racing.
Adding to the equation is that major sponsors IRWIN Tools and SP Tools have both recently announced that they won’t be continuing with Erebus next year.
“As far as I’m concerned I’ve signed a multi-year deal with Erebus and we will be racing on the grid next year,” Engel told Speedcafe.com of his future.
“The primary focus is to finish this year off with the car strongly developed for next year and that is our aim so that we can hit the ground running and get strong results.”
Renowned as a solid performer in Europe, the former British F3 runner-up admitted his debut season has been a character building experience.
His tough run continued in the recent Pirtek Enduro Cup, where he was out-paced by experienced co-driver Steven Johnson.
“It’s one of those years which they call character building and I really feel my character is strong enough now!” said Engel.
“The team is doing a really good job and we deserve a good result.
“I’m still 28th in the standings but it is impossible to move forward when in all the big points scoring races Clipsal, Townsville, Sandown, Bathurst and now Gold Coast things have gone wrong and mainly out of our control.
“Its not the team’s fault but at the end of the day its bad luck. I don’t like saying that but I don’t have any other words. The car has been running really well and we have improved it a lot.”
Engel’s next race will take place at the November 14-16 Macau Grand Prix meeting, where he’ll join Erebus’ GT Asia program for the first time.
