Emil Frey Racing is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

racing team. Established in 2011, the team debuted with a bespoke

Jaguar XK The Jaguar XK is a two-door 2+2 grand tourer manufactured and marketed by Jaguar Cars from 1996–2012 and by Jaguar Land Rover from 2013–2014 in hatchback coupé and convertible body styles, across two generations. The XK was intro ...

-based GT3 race car in the 2012

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 G ...

. After serving as a

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

factory team from 2015 to 2018, the team switched affiliation to

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

in 2019 and to

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

in 2023. The team now competes across multiple European championships with the

Ferrari 296 GT3 The Ferrari 296 (Type F171) is a sports car built since 2022 by the Italian company Ferrari. The 296 is a two-seater, offered as a GTB coupe and a GTS folding hard-top convertible. It is a plug-in hybrid with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive ...

, including

DTM DTM may refer to: Sport * Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000 * Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995 Computing * Data Transfer ...

and Ferrari Challenge Europe.

History

Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3

Development of the team's first race car was led by Frey and FIA Silver-ranked driver

Fredy Barth Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in Lucerne) is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing career Early years Barth started out in karting before stepping up to ...

. Once the design process was complete, chassis manufacturing was delegated to Bemani Motorenbau AG in

Beinwil am See Beinwil am See is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Kulm (district), Kulm in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. With a population of 3,418 as of December 2020, it's known for its diverse ...

. The car completed its first shakedown at

Anneau du Rhin The Anneau du Rhin is a racing circuit situated near Biltzheim, France, about north of Mulhouse. It is used for racing and club sport events, track days and presentations. History The original circuit was planned and built in 1996 by Marc R ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in early 2012, and the design was eventually homologated as a member of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium's (RACB) G3 class. The team and car debuted at the third round of the season at

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ...

. Driven by Frey, Barth, and Gabriel Gardel, the all-Swiss lineup finished 31st overall. The team then failed to finish at both the

24 Hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

and the season finale at

Circuito de Navarra Circuito de Navarra is a motorsport race track that opened in June 2010 near Los Arcos in the Navarre region of Northern Spain. It is a permanent road course that hosted the Superleague Formula series and the FIA GT1 World Championship. Histo ...

. In an attempt to diagnose and rectify issues with the Jaguar XK, the team appeared at two races of the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series with an Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3. The team failed to start the

after a puncture during qualifying and failed to finish at the season finale at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

. The Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3 returned for the

2014 Blancpain Endurance Series The 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series season was the fourth season of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The season started on 12 April at Monza and ended on 21 September at the Nürburgring. The season featured five rounds, with each race lasting for ...

with a new power unit tuned by

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engineering company

Ilmor Ilmor is a British independent high-performance auto racing, motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan (engineer), Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and ...

. The team intended to complete the full season for the first time in 2014, and the revised car was second-fastest in first practice at the season opener at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. However, a fire followed by mechanical issues caused retirements at the first two rounds of the season.Jürg Flach, former operations director at

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG, currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who pro ...

, joined the team to fulfill the same role for the 2015 season. In 2015, the team achieved a best result of first in class at the season finale at Nürburgring, achieving the team and car's first notable competitive result. In 2016, a new lineup paired Frey with

Albert Costa Albert Costa Casals (; born 25 June 1975) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the French Open in 2002. Tennis career Costa began playing tennis at the age of five. He ...

and

Stéphane Ortelli Stéphane Ortelli (born 30 March 1970) is a Monaco, Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 ...

Lexus Factory Team and Expansion

In 2014, the team was selected by Lexus to serve as a factory team in support of the new

Lexus RC F GT3 The Lexus RC (Japanese: レクサス・RC, ''Rekusasu RC'') is a compact executive two-door sport coupé manufactured by Lexus, Toyota's luxury division. The RC which according to Lexus stands for "Radical Coupe" is a two-door coupé version of ...

. Built by Toyota Technocraft in

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, the team expanded into the VLN Championship to support the new car. The team achieved success immediately, finishing second in class at the car's debut in 2015 with Frey,

Jordan Tresson Jordan Tresson (born 30 April 1988 in Villers-la-Montagne) is a French racing driver, who previously raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Career In April 2010 Tresson won the Gran Turismo Academy, a competition run by Nissan and Sony ...

and

Markus Oestreich Markus Oestreich (born 3 July 1963) is a German racing driver currently competing in the TCR International Series. He previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Championship and Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters ...

as drivers. The team finished second overall again at the 2015 Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen. The team returned to VLN in 2016 as a non-homologated car in the SPX class. The team achieved a best result of tenth overall and second in class at the 56. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen at the Nürburgring. In 2017, the team left VLN and entered the International GT Open Championship. New drivers

and Philipp Frommenwiler achieved substantial success in the series, winning four races and finishing third in the overall team standings. ADAC GT Masters 2022 Spielberg Nr

Lamborghini Affiliation

In 2019, Emil Frey's partnership with Lexus ended and the team began a new affiliation with Lamborghini. After being supplied with two Lamborhini Huracán GT3 Evo chassis, the team won the 2019 International GT Open Championship with each car taking four wins apiece. The team moved to the

GT World Challenge Europe GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's ...

in 2020, finishing fifth in the Team's Championship with two wins. The team expanded to a three car operation in 2021, achieving multiple wins and the Silver Class Team's Championship.

Switch to Ferrari

After the 2022 racing season, the team exited its most successful manufacturer affiliation to join Ferrari for the 2023 season. Team representatives stated that the switch was made "purely on marketing" after the Emil Frey Group secured a contract to operate a new Ferrari dealership in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Race Results

Blancpain Endurance Series

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring (VLN)

International GT Open

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

References

{{reflist Swiss racecar constructors Swiss auto racing teams GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup teams International GT Open teams ADAC GT Masters teams Jaguar in motorsport Auto racing teams established in 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams