| Maro Engel | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Driver Details | ||
| Nationality |  German
| |
| P.O.B. | Munich, West Germany
| |
| D.O.B. | 27 August 1985 | |
| Début |  2016 Hong Kong ePrix
| |
| Final Race |  2018 New York City E-Prix II
| |
| Titles | 0 | |
| Teams |  Venturi Formula E Team
| |
| Formula E Career | ||
| Total Entries | 23 (23 Starts) | |
| Wins | Points | FanBoosts |
| 0 | 47 | 0 |
| Poles | 0 | |
| Fastest Laps | 2 | |
| Podiums | 0 | |
Maro Engel, born 27 August 1985, is a German born racing driver, who competed in the 2017/18 FIA Formula E Championship with the Venturi Formula E Team.[1] Engel is well known as a Mercedes-Benz driver, having competed in the DTM and the VLN Series for the three-pointed-star, a fact that would cause a stir when the Stuttgart squad announced their intention to join Formula E in 2019/20.[2]
Engel would have a largely anonymous debut season in 2016/17, claiming a season best finish of fifth in the 2017 Monaco ePrix.[3] Regardless, the German was retained for the 2017/18, and partnered with another Mercedes DTM driver in the form of Edoardo Mortara.[4]
Yet, despite outscoring Mortara come the end of the 2017/18 campaign Engel would be dropped by Venturi ahead of the 2018/19 season, as ex-F1 racer Felipe Massa joined Mortara at the team.[5]
Background[]
After six seasons worth of karting, Engel stepped up to his first race car seat in 2001, taking part in the Formula BMW Junior Cup, finishing third.[2] The following season saw Engel graduate to the full German series in the Championship, finishing eighth, before being given a seat in the Formula 3 Euro Series for 2003.[2] A handful of appearances across several Championships followed over the following seasons, before Engel claimed seventh in the Italian F3000 Championship in 2005.[2]
Mercedes Mercy[]
Engel's career really began to pickup when the German was handed a seat in the British F3 Championship in 2006.[2] After a strong debut campaign, Engel was signed up to the Mercedes-Benz Junior Programme for 2007, continuing on the British Championship.[2] His title challenge would last until the final round of the season, three wins leaving him just shy of the title, with Mercedes deciding to place Engel into one of their DTM seats.[2]
During his four seasons in the DTM, Engel would never be a standout driver, largely down to the fact that he was put into one of the oldest cars in the field.[2] Indeed, Engel would use the same chassis for three seasons, and after failing to crack the top ten of the Championship, Mercedes decided to move him into their GT3 programmes.[2] The move would prove beneficial for Engel, as claimed his first GT win in 2012, the year of his debut in Endurance racing.[2]
Engel's Endurance[]
After a single season in the southern hemisphere, competing in the V8 Supercars Championship, Engel joined the ADAC GT Masters series in 2014.[2] Although success in his main series was hard to come by over the following seasons, Engel wrestled his Mercedes to victories at the Macau Grand Prix GT Cup (in both 2014 and 2015), take the FIA GT World Cup crown of 2015, and taste success at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring in 2016.[2]
Formula E History[]
The Monaco based Venturi Formula E Team decided to offer Engel a race seat for the 2016/17 FIA Formula E Championship just before the 2016 Donington Test, hoping to partner him with established team leader Stéphane Sarrazin.[1] The German accepted and was soon trying his hand at a FE car for the first time during the six day public test, where he would inevitably struggle for pace. Yet, Engel was quick to adapt and be the final day he was lapping in the same realm as experienced teammate Sarrazin, although Venturi were down at the bottom of the overall order on pure pace.
Debut Demands[]
Engel would open his FE account with a ninth place finish at the 2016 Hong Kong ePrix, beating teammate Sarrazin across the meeting.[6] A disappointing run would follow, Engel an unclassified finisher in Marrakech, before retiring from the next two rounds. Engel would bounce back at his "home" race in Monaco, however, by claiming a season best finish of fifth having run amongst the leading drivers for the entire race.[3]
Engel was replaced by Tom Dillmann for the 2017 Paris ePrix, the German missing the race due to his DTM commitments, although changes elsewhere meant that Dillmann would become his teammate for the rest of the season.[7] Engel's return in his native Germany went relatively well, the German scoring another ninth place finish in the first Berlin ePrix, before claiming fastest lap in the second race of the weekend.[8] He would repeat the fastest lap feat in the first New York ePrix too, although Engel's two fastest laps were tinged by the fact that he failed to finish either race.[9]
The rest of the 2016/17 season would see Engel produce little of note, beaten in all three races by teammate Dillmann. Yet, by the end of the season, Engel had still beaten his two teammates in the final standings, and had helped Venturi to finish ahead of new boys Jaguar Racing.
The Mercedes Factor[]
Engel was retained as a Venturi driver after the 2017 Valencia Test, the small matter of his marriage preventing Engel from taking part at all bar the final day.[10] The German was to be partnered by fellow Mercedes DTM driver Edoardo Mortara, who beat Engel's best quali-effort during the test, although both were hampered by gearbox troubles.[11] Venturi would later state that the fact that they were running two Mercedes drivers was unrelated to the manufacturer's intentions to join the series in 2019/20, while also proclaiming that their gearbox issues would be solved before the season opener.
Venturi would indeed solve their gearbox issues ahead of the season opener in Hong Kong, although Engel did not manage to record a points finish.[12] The German did, however, grab seventh place in the second race of the Hong Kong weekend, although was thoroughly outpaced by his new teammate as Mortara finished second.[13] Another pointless couple of performances followed, with Engel also retiring from the 2018 Santiago E-Prix after an accident with José María López.[14]
After that, however, Engel would finally go on a run of point scoring races, starting with a tenth place finish in Punta del Este.[15] The German followed that up with eighth in Rome, before grabbing a season best effort of fourth in the dramatic events of the Paris.[16] Indeed, Engel had started the final lap of that race down in seventh, but André Lotterer's antics in the fight for second ultimately allowed the German to leap into the top four.[16]
An eighth place in Berlin followed, before another non-score ended his run in Zürich as Engel got punished for speeding during a Full Course Yellow.[17] Engel then played a crucial role in the title fight in the first New York City E-Prix, blocking Sam Bird in the closing stages to deny the Brit the eighth place finish he required to keep his title hopes alive.[18] That result also put Engel ahead of Mortara in the Drivers' Championship standings, a fortunate result given that Engel was to end the season with a retirement in the second and final New York City E-Prix.[19]
Mercedes Machinations[]
Engel would be one of a number of drivers to test for Venturi ahead of the 2018/19 season, with no fewer than six Mercedes drivers in line for seats either with Venturi or the new HWA teams.[20] Yet, Engel was destined to miss out on a role with both teams, being replaced at Venturi by Felipe Massa, while Gary Paffett and Stoffel Vandoorne claimed the HWA seats.[5]
Full Formula E Record[]
Shown below are a series of tables outlining Maro Engel's career in Formula E in statistical form.
Formula E Entries[]
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Maro Engel during their FE career:
| Maro Engel's Overall Formula E Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Entrant | No. | Car | Pos. | Pts. |
| 2016/17 | Venturi Formula E Team
|
5 | Venturi VM200-FE-02 | 17th | 16 |
| 2017/18 | Venturi Formula E Team
|
5 | Venturi VM200-FE-03 | 12th | 31 |
Career Results[]
Below is a table showing Maro Engel's full Formula E record:
| FIA Formula E Championship Record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rounds | Pos. | Pts. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |||
| 2016/17 | 
|
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|
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|
|
|
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|
|
|
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17th | 16 |
| 9th | NC | Ret | Ret | 5th | 9th | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12th | 18th | ||||
| 2017/18 |
|
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|
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|
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12th | 31 |
| 13th | 7th | 12th | Ret | 16th | 10th | 8th | 4th | 8th | 11th | 8th | Ret | |||
References[]
Videos and Images:
- Byggxx, 'File:Maro Engel 2009.JPG', commons.wikimedia.org, (WikiMedia, 02/08/2009), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maro_Engel_2009.JPG, (Accessed 03/11/2017)
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 'MARO ENGEL JOINS VENTURI FORMULA E TEAM: VENTURI LINE UP CONFIRMED FOR SEASON THREE', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 08/08/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/august/maro-engel-joins-venturi-formula-e-team/, (Accessed 09/08/2016)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 'About "ME" - Maro Engel', maroengel.com, (Maro Engel/Monaco, 2016), https://maroengel.com/career/, (Accessed 08/09/2016)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 'Di Grassi fights Buemi to the finish in Monaco', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 13/05/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/may/di-grassi-fights-buemi-to-the-finish-in-monaco/, (Accessed 14/05/2017)
- ↑ 'Mortara and Engel confirmed at Venturi', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 20/10/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/october/mortara-and-engel-confirmed-at-venturi/, (Accessed 20/10/2017)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 'Felipe Massa joins Venturi driver line up for Season 5', fiaformuale.com, (FIA Formula E, 15/05/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/may/felipe-massa-joins-venturi-driver-line-up-for-season-5/, (Accessed 15/05/2018)
- ↑ 'Buemi holds on in Hong Kong', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/10/2016), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/october/buemi-holds-on-in-hong-kong/, (Accessed 09/10/2016)
- ↑ 'Tom Dillmann gets Paris Venturi call-up', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 24/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/tom-dillmann-gets-paris-venturi-call-up/, (Accessed 24/04/2017)
- ↑ 'Buemi gifted win by Mahindra pitstop confusion', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 11/06/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/june/buemi-gifted-win-by-mahindra-pitstop-confusion/, (Accessed 17/06/2017)
- ↑ 'Bird soars to historic Qualcomm New York City ePrix win', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 15/07/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/july/bird-soars-to-historic-qualcomm-new-york-city-eprix-win/, (Accessed 18/07/2017)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedEM17A - ↑ 'Turvey finishes pre-season testing on top', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 05/10/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/october/turvey-finishes-pre-season-testing-on-top/, (Accessed 05/10/2017)
- ↑ 'Bird clinches victory in Hong Kong', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 02/12/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/december/bird-clinches-victory-in-hong-kong/, (Accessed 16/12/2017)
- ↑ Scott Mitchell, 'Abt stripped of maiden Formula E win', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 03/12/2017), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/abt-stripped-maiden-fe-win-hong-kong-985435/, (Accessed 03/12/2017)
- ↑ 'Vergne steals the show in epic Santiago E-Prix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/02/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/february/vergne-steals-the-show-in-epic-santiago-e-prix/, (Accessed 03/02/2018)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPdE18R - ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPar18R - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBer18R - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNYC18R1 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNYC18R2 - ↑ Sam Smith, 'Mortara, Paffett Favorites for Final Seat at Venturi', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 24/07/2018), https://e-racing365.com/formula-e/mortara-paffett-favorites-to-partner-massa-at-venturi/, (Accessed 25/07/2018)
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