The Phoenix Racing workshop is located just a stone’s throw away from the Nordschleife. The Döttinger Höhe track section, the ultra-long straight, is only separated from the Phoenix hall by the B258 secondary road. Ernst Moser’s team is based in the Nürburgring industrial park. The “Ring” has been home to the team ever since it was founded in 1999. There’s a racing series that has even longer ties to this world famous race track: the Endurance Championship Nürburgring, aka VLN. For Phoenix Racing every race at the Nürburgring is a home round, particularly the races of the VLN.
The home round actually starts at the workshop, as Phoenix does not have to load its racing cars onto trucks to take them to the nearby paddock. Thanks to a special permit, which is generally granted to all racing teams located at the industrial park, Phoenix is allowed to drive the racing cars to the paddock on public roads. But that is the only advantage the team enjoys at its home round, as the world’s most difficult race track provides no “home advantage.” The unique roller-coaster circuit poses an extreme challenge to everyone, again and again.
In the 2011 season, Phoenix Racing is taking on this challenge nine times at the races of the popular Endurance Championship that is marked by large fields of entrants and an exceptional mix of amateurs and professionals. Five VLN races before the Nürburgring 24 Hours primarily serve to prepare for the season’s highlight, which is not only about scoring VLN points but also about fame and honour. After this classic, Phoenix will be contesting four other races. The team merely has to skip the sixth round due to the overlapping date of the 24-hour race at Spa-Franchorchamps.
The Audi R8 LMS is not only a car in which the Phoenix racers have clinched a total of eleven podium finishes in the 2009 and 2010 seasons, including an overall victory. The GT sportscar with the four rings, with a power output of more than 500 HP, is also a racing car that thrills the many VLN fans lining the Nordschleife with its fascinating looks and, first and foremost, the deep roar of its V10 engine.
“It’s always fun again to contest these races and to take in this unique atmosphere, in the paddock, in the pit lane and of course along the track. The competition is very strong there and the challenge of the Nordschleife has not lost any of its thrill for us,” says Team Director Ernst Moser. “The VLN is simply motorsport in its purest form.”
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.