German born and former DTM driver Maro Engel will join the Erebus Motorsport V8 stable after signing a multi-year contract, and will pilot the #9 SP Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercar in the 2013 Championship Series.

Starting his racing career in karting, Engel is an experienced European driver who has competed in numerous formula categories and will now take his place on the V8 Supercars grid for the first time.

Engel admits that while he completed a successful V8 Supercar test with the team in December 2012, his first year in Australia’s premier motorsport category will be a learning curve.

“V8 Supercars gets quite a lot of coverage in Europe so I was well aware of the category and I followed it. It’s always been known for very close racing and that is something we look at from Europe in a little bit of an envious way because our touring car racing sometimes lacks those overtaking mauvers. It is impressive to see how closely the cars follow each other.

“In December I tested the 2012 car and it was a great experience. The car was really fun to drive; I had great feedback out on track and heightened my desire to be part of this category.

“We had a really successful and positive test and it was great to work with the engineers. They are a really professional team and it gave me a really good insight into what the V8 Supercars have been like and I think with the changes for this year it’s going to make them even better.

“This year will be a steep learning curve for me, that’s for sure, but I’m really looking forward to learning from my team and team mates. I’m definitely coming over to be successful however I think we have to appreciate that this will take some time.