Martin Tomczyk will no longer be driving for Audi in 2012. The DTM Champion is seeking a new sporting challenge. “We’ve only worked together with Martin Tomczyk for a year. But that has been an exceptional year for Audi Sport Team Phoenix and for Martin Tomczyk himself, in which we clinched the DTM title,” says Phoenix Team Director Ernst Moser. “We’ve come to know and appreciate Martin during this time. As team boss, I want to thank him for this fantastic season. The entire Phoenix squad wishes him well for his new future and we look forward to meeting him again, wherever that may be.”
The 29-year-old native of Rosenheim switched to Audi Sport Team Phoenix for the 2011 season. At the wheel of the Audi A4 DTM, a 2008-specification car, the Bavarian who lives in Switzerland made a strong showing straight from the first round. He finished each of the ten DTM races in the points, mounted the podium eight times – at three of these events as the winner – and not once achieved less than fifth place: an impressive track record that brought about an early title decision at the penultimate race at Valencia, Spain.
“After eleven years of racing together I won the championship for Audi. During this long period of time we’ve been together I’ve always had the backing of the entire Audi Sport squad, and Dr Wolfgang Ullrich in particular,” says Martin Tomczyk. "I’m happy that, together with Team Phoenix, I’ve been able to repay them for their support by clinching the 2011 champion’s title. Despite this joint success, after careful consideration, I’ve now decided to accept a new challenge. At this point, I’d like to once again thank everyone who has worked together with me at Audi Sport, and assure each and every one of them that, looking back, these were really special years.”
Tomczyk started his DTM career in the 2001 season. At the age of 19, which made him the youngest racer in DTM history at the time, he started competing for Team ABT Sportsline in the Abt-Audi TT-R. In 2003, he became an Audi factory driver in the “S line Audi Junior Team”. Since 2004 he was racing in the DTM in an Audi A4 for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and, for the first time in 2011, for Audi Sport Team Phoenix. In 2006, his sixth DTM season, he clinched his first of now seven DTM victories. The title win at the wheel of a year-old car in 2011 has marked the biggest exploit in his career to date.
“It goes without saying that we deeply regret that he’s seeking a new challenge particularly at this point in time, after his most successful DTM season with Audi,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "I can understand though that he’d like to try something new after eleven special years at Audi, with highs and lows – after all, by winning the DTM title at the wheel of the Audi A4 DTM he’s achieved exactly the goal for which he’s been working so hard for many years. I’m personally delighted that Martin made believers out of his critics because I’ve always had faith in him. I can appreciate that he initially saw his transfer to Team Phoenix and a year-old car as a demotion. But it gave his career new impulses, just as I’d been hoping it would. I’ve always enjoyed working together with Martin. He’s a professional in every respect whom I personally hold in high regard. I wish him all the best for the future.”
When Phoenix Racing travels to Australia in February to compete in the famous Bathurst 12 Hours with two Audi R8 LMS cars this won’t be the team’s first overseas commitment. In 1999, the debut year of Ernst Moser’s squad, the team embarked on its first big journey after the end of the Super Touring Cup (STW) season. The destination: Macau.