Phoenix Racing is a motor racing team based at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The team competes in series such as the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

and

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand to ...

and was the winner of the 2022 24 Hours of Nürburgring with the car #15.

History

Phoenix Racing competed in the

German Supertouring Championship The Super Tourenwagen Cup, or German Supertouring Championship, was a touring car racing series held between 1994 and 1999 in Germany. The championship was established when BMW and Audi both left the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) in 199 ...

in 1999 with

Michael Bartels Michael Bartels (born 8 March 1968) is a German professional racing driver. He is a multiple FIA GT champion and former Grand Prix driver who attempted to qualify for four races in with Lotus. Career Bartels was the 1985 German karting champi ...

and

Arnd Meier Arnd Meier (born March 1, 1973, in Hannover, Germany) is a former race car driver. After finishing second in the 1996 German Formula Three Championship behind Jarno Trulli, but ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld, Meier participated in the 1997 and 199 ...

driving

Audi A4 The Audi A4 is a line of compact executive cars produced since 1994 by the German car manufacturer Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The A4 has been built in five generations and is based on the Volkswagen Group B platform. The first ...

s. The team moved to the revived

series in 2000, running Opel Astra V8 Coupes, with

Manuel Reuter Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice: *in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes *in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing He also won the Inte ...

finishing as runner-up and Bartels finishing seventh. The team also won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in a Porsche GT3-R with Bartels,

Uwe Alzen Uwe Alzen (born 18 August 1967) is a German Auto racing, racing driver specialised in touring car racing and sports car racing. Biography He won the 1992 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, the 1994 Porsche Supercup and the 1995 Deutsche Tourenwage ...

, Altfrid Heger and

Bernd Mayländer Bernd Mayländer (born 29 May 1971 in Waiblingen) is a German racing driver and current Formula One safety car driver. Racing career Bernd started his career in karting sport at the end of the 1980s. In the following years he made his way to t ...

as drivers. Phoenix repeated this victory in 2003 in an Opel Astra with Reuter,

Timo Scheider Timo Scheider (born 10 November 1978 in Lahnstein) is a German racing driver who competes in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for Münnich Motorsport. He won the DTM title in 2008 and 2009. Career Karting Like most other drivers, Scheider ...

Volker Strycek Volker Strycek (born 13 October 1957 in Essen) is a German racecar driver and automobile manager. In 1984 he became the first Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft champion, driving a BMW 635 CSi, without winning a race. He did not win a DTM race e ...

and

Marcel Tiemann Marcel Tiemann (born 19 March 1974) is a retired racing driver from Germany. He is best known for being a five-time winner of the 24 Hours Nürburgring race with Opel and Porsche. Career Early series Tiemann started his career in Formula Kön ...

. Opel began to struggle in the DTM in 2001, with Reuter the best Opel in ninth position and Phoenix teammate Yves Oliver finishing down in 22nd place. Phoenix and Opel never won another DTM race up until the end of 2005, when the manufacturer withdrew. For 2006, there was a need for more cars to be run by the remaining two manufacturers,

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

. This led to Phoenix running one-year-old

s from the 2006 season onwards. In 2011

Martin Tomczyk Martin Tomczyk (born 7 December 1981) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He was the DTM champion in 2011, third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2004, having won eight races. Racing career After a karti ...

won the DTM drivers title for Phoenix at the penultimate race in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, with 3 victories, 7 total podiums, and 1 pole position. In 2013,

Mike Rockenfeller Mike Rockenfeller (born 31 October 1983), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver and was an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM and the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for ...

took the title in the 2013 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season with one race remaining having 2 wins and 3 second places, driving the Audi A5. Phoenix Racing also began competing in the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

in 2006, with

Jean-Denis Délétraz Jean-Denis is a masculine given name, and may refer to: * Jean-Denis Bredin (born 1929), a French attorney * Jean-Denis Délétraz (born 1963), a Swiss racecar driver * Jean-Denis Lanjuinais 200px Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais (12 March 175313 ...

and

Andrea Piccini Andrea Piccini (born 12 December 1978 in Sansepolcro) is an Italian racing driver who is the part-owner and team principal of the Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab ELMS and Italian F4 team. Single Seaters Piccini began his single seater career in 1994, ...

finishing the season as runners-up in an

Aston Martin DBR9 The Aston Martin DBR9 is a racing car built by Aston Martin Racing, debuting in 2005 and racing actively in international sportscar racing until the end of GT1 category in 2011. The name DBR9 is derived from the original 24 Hours of Le Mans-winn ...

. For 2007 the team joined up with

Toine Hezemans Antoine Emile "Toine" Hezemans (born 15 April 1943, in Eindhoven) is a Dutch former touring and prototype racing car driver in 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from racing, Hezemans spent some time as a manager of Phoenix Carsport team. One of the ...

' Carsport Holland team to form ''Phoenix Carsport''. Deletraz and

Mike Hezemans Mike Hezemans (born 25 July 1969, in Eindhoven) is a professional racecar driver from the Netherlands. Mike is the son of Toine Hezemans and brother of Loris Hezemans. Mike started in karting in 1981, and won the Dutch National Championship in 1 ...

finished in third place in the standings racing a Corvette C6.R. In 2008, Hezemans and

Fabrizio Gollin Fabrizio Gollin (born 28 March 1975 in Camposampiero, Province of Padua) is an Italian racing driver who shared the FIA GT Championship with Luca Cappellari in 2004 while driving for BMS Scuderia Italia. He also is a winner of the Spa 24 Hours ...

finished as runners-up for the team. In 2009, Carsport returned to running their team with

Peka Racing Pekaracing NV, competing as PK Carsport, is a racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as well as the Belcar Trophy in conjunction with Russell Racing. The team has previously competed in other series such as the FIA ...

, but Phoenix and Carsport will again partner each other in 2010 for the first season of the

. Phoenix Racing became an Audi Sport factory-supported team in 2009, competing at the

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

and 24 Hours of Nürburgring with an Audi R8 GT3 LMS. In 2012, the team won the

Bathurst 12 Hour The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in ...

, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the 24 Hours of Spa. They also won the 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the

2016 Sepang 12 Hours The 2016 Motul Sepang 12 Hours was the seventeenth Sepang 12 Hours race held on Sepang International Circuit on 10 December 2016. The race was contested with GT3-spec cars, GTC-spec cars, GT4 (Supersport)-spec cars, MARC cars and touring cars. ...

. File:Manuel Reuter DTM(ThKraft).jpg,

2002 File:Phoenix DBR9.jpg, Phoenix Racing

in 2006 File:14 Alexandre Premat.jpg,

Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, ...

2008 File:Jons-Mies-O'Young 2012 Bathurst 12 Hour Winner.jpg,

winner in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

File:99 Mike Rockenfeller (27818956081).jpg,

in 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix Racing German auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 1999 1999 establishments in Germany Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams Porsche Supercup teams FIA GT Championship teams FIA GT1 World Championship teams ADAC GT Masters teams International GT Open teams Blancpain Endurance Series teams TCR Asia Series teams Super GT teams Audi in motorsport