The 2011 season is dominated by the symbol of the four rings for Phoenix Racing. For the first time, Ernst Moser’s squad is exclusively banking on the racing cars from Ingolstadt: the Audi A4 DTM and the Audi R8 LMS.
The programme could hardly be more varied. The team based in the Nürgring industrial park is meeting with the competition on as many as four challenging motorsport stages: in the DTM, the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and at Spa-Francorchamps, the ADAC GT Masters and the Endurance Championship Nürburgring.
Phoenix, a team that was among the first to compete in the new DTM, has been running as Audi Sport Team Phoenix since 2006. Under a factory contract, Ernst Moser is fielding two Audi A4 DTM vehicles, so called year-old cars. In 2011, they are driven by the seasoned DTM campaigner Martin Tomczyk and DTM rookie Rahel Frey.
For the first time Audi is participating in the two 24-hour races with a factory commitment, both in the Eifel and in the Belgian Ardennes. Audi Sport Team Phoenix is putting two of the R8 LMS GT sportscars with a power output of over 500 HP on the grid at both of these endurance classics.
In addition, Phoenix Racing is returning to the ADAC GT Masters where the team made a successful debut with the Audi R8 LMS as early as in 2009. At the ADAC Masters weekends in 2011 Christopher Haase and Andreas Simonsen, and René Rast and Stefan Landmann are taking the wheel of the two Phoenix R8 cars.
In the Endurance Championship Nürburgring, aka VLN, Phoenix Racing is competing at nine of ten rounds. The first five races are primarily used to prepare for the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Different driver pairings will be running at the VLN races on the challenging Nordschleife in one – or typically two -- Audi R8 LMS cars.
“It’s perfect to contest the 2011 season exclusively with Audi because we enjoy a very close, target-driven and harmonious collaboration with Audi,” says Team Director Ernst Moser. “We’re in for a varied programme with many spectacular races that we’re very much looking forward to. The whole team has prepared more intensively than ever for this season and we’ve got every intention in the world to clinch as many successes as possible and to perhaps also cause a few surprises.”
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.