Engel Predicts Tough Challenge Ahead For Dahlgren

Robert Dahlgren has raced successfully for Volvo for ten years, but
V8 Supercars is a whole new challenge. (Credit: Robert Dahlgren)

Germany’s Maro Engel has spoken of the challenges facing international drivers in the V8 Supercar championship ahead of Robert Dahlgren’s debut with Volvo.  Engel made his category debut last year with the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes team, scoring a best finish of ninth at Hidden Valley, but found himself out of a drive when Erebus downsized to two entries and signed Will Davison from Ford Performance Racing.  He expects Dahlgren, a veteran of 10 seasons on the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship circuit with Volvo, to have a tough learning curve in the new S60.

“It’s an extremely tough championship to come in as a rookie, especially as an international,” Engel said. “The cars are very different, the tracks are very different to what we know in Europe and you’re racing almost all unknown drivers bar maybe one or two he might have come across racing in Europe, so it’s a similar situation to what I had or Alex Premat had.

“I guess the question is how competitive will the Volvo be? If it’s a competitive car then it will make things a lot easier for him. I’m sure he’s aware of the challenge that he’s facing and he’ll do everything he can, one of the key things will be how well the team prepares and how well they support him, that’s a very important thing to have in this championship. I’ll certainly be watching to see how he goes and wish him all the best.”

Another convincing performance at Bathurst has Engel itching
to get back behind the wheel of a V8. (Credit: Maro Engel)

Engel has settled in well to the Australian way of life on the Gold Coast, and after winning the Allan Simonsen Trophy for pole position in the Bathurst 12 Hours, is keen to get make a comeback in V8s in the near future.

“Clearly the year running in the V8 Supercar championship was very difficult and challenging.  For any European coming in it was always going to be difficult, but what nobody expected was for the car to struggle as much as it did. 

“I’ve really enjoyed the championship and I certainly feel capable of producing strong results and racing at the front in V8 Supercars, so we’ll see what happens in the future.”