Maro Engel finished fourth in his Team Ravenol Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Sunday’s second DTM race at Zandvoort after an epic late‑race comeback. Starting from P11 on older tyres compared to the rest of the field and suffering a slow pit stop, he didn’t give up. After the second round of pitstops and being on brand‑new tyres, Engel went from ninth to fourth and almost ended up on the podium in the final ten minutes.

With the rest of the pack choosing to start on fresher rubber, the team chose to go for an alternative strategy. “I knew we’d be strong at the end,” says the winner of the Nürburgring 24 Hours to GT REPORT. 

But despite having that in mind, it was anything but easy. “It was obviously a tough race, especially at the beginning. The first pitstop hurt us a lot.” 

But, as his achievements and trophies say, giving up doesn’t exist for the 40‑year‑old German driver. “I just put everything into it and obviously the safety car really helped to put us back into the contest and try to gain as many places as possible,” he explains straight after the race. “I could make some good overtakes and put us back into fourth place.”

Though he wished and hoped for more, as the Mercedes driver finished just half a second behind third‑placed Marco Wittmann.

The Schubert Motorsport driver also drove an epic comeback race but was on slightly more worn tyres, having started from P13 in his BMW M4 GT3. 

“I tried everything to get up to the podium. That would have been the icing on the cake.” 

He started believing he could get near that spot after overtaking many cars on different parts of the short and twisty Dutch circuit, when he was in P4 and the battles in front of him unfolded. “I really thought I could maybe make something happen. Marco obviously still had good tyres and I just couldn’t get close enough to make a move.” 

Despite that, the successful driver keeps his championship lead, having scored 67 points and holding a margin of six points over Lucas Auer in the other Mercedes-AMG GT3 driving for Team Landgraf. 

“It’s important points, for sure, to be honest. I’m still a little bit annoyed I couldn’t make the jump onto the podium. I would have loved to get up there.” 

He will be hoping to do so at the Lausitzring for round three of the DTM championship, which will start on the 19th of June.