Emil Frey Racing

Emil Frey Racing is a Swiss racing team and racecar constructor. The team is named after the Emil Frey Gruppe, a Swiss car dealership for Jaguar, Lexus and other marques. Emil Frey Racing was founded in 2011, competing in the Blancpain GT Series and other series.

Emil Frey Racing

Founded	2011
Base	Safenwil, Aargau
Team principal(s)	Lorenz Frey
Current series	DTM GT World Challenge Europe

History

In 2011, the family business Emil Frey AG took the decision to set up its own division within the headquarters at Safenwil (AG) to be engaged once again in Motorsport, starting from 2012.

Motorsport has always been highly ranked in the company. There is no other place where technical competence can be as efficiently demonstrated as within a sportive competition. It is an excellent stage for image building for an international brand and an important platform to test developments, which will ultimately make road cars safer, more comfortable and of higher quality.

With Lorenz Frey heading the division as Team Principal and being joined by engaged engineers and employees, Emil Frey Racing was started in its third generation. It is a re-launch of an unforgotten team, which managed to celebrate many highlights in the 30s, 70s and 80s. Company founder Emil Frey tested his motorcycles within the racing world, Walter Frey continued to do so with his MINI Cooper and Toyota. Son Lorenz Frey brings the Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar and the Lexus RC F GT3 back on the race track. For 2019, the team is cooperating with Lamborghini Squadra Corse.

Since 2023 Emil Frey Racing is competing in DTM with an Ferrari 296 GT3.

Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3

Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3^[1]

Constructor	Emil Frey Racing
Homologation	RACB G3 (G3-105)
Technical specifications
Chassis	Jaguar XKR based aluminium space frame
Suspension (front)	four-way adjustable racing dampers
Suspension (rear)	four-way adjustable racing dampers
Engine	Ilmor prepared Jaguar 5,000 cc (305.1 cu in) V8 front engine
Transmission	Xtrac 6-speed sequential
Weight	1,240 kg (2,733.7 lb)
Tyres	Pirelli BBS wheels
Competition history
Competition	Blancpain Endurance Series
Notable entrants	Emil Frey Racing
Debut	2012 Blancpain Paul Ricard round
Races Wins Podiums Poles F/Laps 31 3 7 4 0

The team started development of the Jaguar racing car in 2011. While Lorenz Frey and Fredy Barth built the racing team, the car was built by Bemani Motorenbau AG. In spring 2012 the car ran for the first time at the Anneau du Rhin circuit.^[2] The Swiss team launched a Jaguar XKR based racecar built to GT3 specifications in 2012. However, as GT3 regulations allow little in season development the car was homologated into the RACB G3 class.^[3] The development was headed by Emil Frey's grandson, Lorenz and Fredy Barth. Experienced GT racer Gabriele Gardel joined the team during the races and Rolf Maritz joined the outfit for the 2012 24 Hours of Spa.

The first race of the Jaguar was run at Circuit Paul Ricard where Frey, Barth and Gardel finished 31st.^[4] Drive train problems in the 24 Hours of Spa caused early end to another test race. More technical problems haunted the team at the season finale at Circuito de Navarra.^[2]

Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3 at the 2015 24 Hours of Spa

As the Jaguar was not ready for the season opener of the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series the team opted to race an Aston Martin V12 Vantage.^[5] Emil Frey Racing entered the Aston Martin in the 2013 24 Hours of Spa. During qualifying Barth suffered a puncture at the very fast Raidillon corner. The car suffered heavy damage and did not start the race.^[6] The Jaguar returned for the Nürburgring round of the championship. The race ended early after a crash damaged the steering box.^[7]

For 2014 the Jaguar was fitted with a new Ilmor 5.0L V8 engine to compete the full 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series. Lorenz Frey, Gardel and Barth competed the majority of the season. Jonathan Hirschi joined the team as of Spa. Frey placed second in the opening test session of the season opener at Monza.^[8] However, a small fire in the car damaged the car resulting in the team having to abandon the race.^[9] After a mechanical retirement at Silverstone, the team finished 32nd at Paul Ricard.^[10][11] In the 2014 24 Hours of Spa the team suffered multiple gearbox and suspension issues causing the retirement.^[12] Hirschi replaced Frey for the season finale at the Nürburgring moving the team into the Pro class. At the German track the team finished nineteenth overall, tenth in class.

Former Sauber operations director Jürg Flach joined the team as the technical and operations director as of 2015.^[13] Frey, Barth and Gardel returned as the driver trio in the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series. In the season opening 3-hours of Monza the team retired with engine problems.^[14] The team returned at Silverstone with an 18th overall finish, third in the Pro-Am Cup. The team had no technical issues during the season finishing every race, including a 27th place at the 24 Hours of Spa. The team won the Pro-Am Cup at the Nürburgring season finale.

Albert Costa in Emil Frey Racing service in 2016.

For 2016 the team announced a new line-up with Albert Costa and Stéphane Ortelli joining Lorenz Frey.^[15] The trio finished every race until the season finale but failed to score points. Their best result was a 20th place at the first race of the season at Monza. The team entered a second car as of the 24 Hours of Spa. Hirschi returned to the team with Christian Klien and Markus Palttala for the 24 Hour race. Norbert Siedler replaced Palttala at the Nürburgring. The team placed seventh at the Nürburging scoring six championship points.

The team entered two Jaguars for the 2017 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. Marco Seefried joined the Klien and Hirschi Jaguar while Costa, Ortelli and Frey raced the other car.^[16] Costa and Frey were replaced by Siedler and Alex Fontana before the season finale. Ortelli, Costa and Frey scored the team's best result. At Silverstone the team finished tenth overall scoring the team's single championship point.

Lexus factory team

Initial development and VLN

The Lexus RC-F GT3 at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Emil Frey Racing was selected, along with Farnbacher Racing to develop the Lexus RC F GT3.^[17] The car was not built by Emil Frey Racing but by Toyota's Japanese motorsports arm Toyota Technocraft.^[18] The car made its competition debut in 2015. The Lexus won their class at the 46. Adenauer ADAC Worldpeace Trophy, part of the VLN championship. Farnbacher Racing (with Dominik and Mario Farnbacher) won the class, while Emil Frey Racing finished second in class with Lorenz Frey, Jordan Tresson and Markus Oestreich.^[19] The trio again finished second in class in the Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen, this time behind Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.^[20] As the Lexus was absent in the yearly FIA Balance of Performance test for Group GT3 cars, the car was not homologated for the 2016 season.^[21] As a non-homologated car the Lexus continued in the SPX class of the VLN championship. Lorenz Frey and Stéphane Ortelli started the season at the 41. DMV 4 Hour Race. In qualifying Frey had an accident on the Kesselchen section of the 25 km Nürburgring Nordschleife. Frey was uninjured but the Lexus had to abandon the race.^[22] The season's best result was at the 56. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen where Frey and Ortelli finished tenth overall, second in class.^[23]

International GT Open

After receiving Group GT3 homologation (number GT3-046), the team entered the International GT Open in 2017.^[24] Albert Costa and Philipp Frommenwiler raced the racing series based in Spain.^[25] The duo won the first race of the season at Estoril.^[26] The duo again won at Spa-Francorchamps.^[27] At the Hungaroring the team suffered their first retirement after a collision with the #51 Teo Martín Motorsport BMW M6.^[28] The team won two more races, at Silvertone and Barcelona to finish third in the team standings.

Blancpain GT Series:

The Lexus RC-F GT3 at the 2018 at Silverstone.

In 2018, until the finale race the Swiss led the Endurance Cup and secured second place with only six points missing to win the Cup. Additionally, Emil Frey Racing secured its best-ever team result with third place in the overall Team Championship.

Race results

Blancpain Endurance Series

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

Blancpain Endurance Series
Year	Car	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pos.	Pts
2012	Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3	80	Fredy Barth	MON	SIL DNS	LEC 31	SPA DNS	NÜR	NAV Ret	-	-
			Gabriele Gardel
			Lorenz Frey
2013	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	80	Fredy Barth	MON 28	SIL	LEC	SPA			-	-
	Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3		Gabriele Gardel					NÜR Ret
			Lorenz Frey
2014	Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3	14	Lorenz Frey	MON 28	SIL Ret	LEC 32	SPA Ret			10th	6
			Fredy Barth					NÜR 19
			Gabriele Gardel
			Jonathan Hirschi
2015	Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3	14	Lorenz Frey	MON Ret	SIL 16	LEC 43	SPA 27	NÜR 16		8th	51
			Fredy Barth
			Gabriele Gardel
			Jonathan Hirschi
2016	Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3	14	Albert Costa	MON 20	SIL 43	LEC 42	SPA 53	NÜR Ret		18th	8
			Lorenz Frey
			Stéphane Ortelli
		114	Markus Palttala	MON	SIL	LEC	SPA 49
			Jonathan Hirschi					NÜR 7
			Christian Klien
			Norbert Siedler
2017	Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3	14	Albert Costa	MON 31	SIL 10	LEC 55	SPA Ret			16th	6
			Lorenz Frey
			Stéphane Ortelli					NÜR 11
			Norbert Siedler
		114	Jonathan Hirschi	MON Ret	SIL 12	LEC 34	SPA Ret	NÜR 10
			Marco Seefried
			Christian Klien

Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring

Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring
Year	Car	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos.	Pts
2015	Lexus RC F GT3	54	Lorenz Frey	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR 11	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR 13	NÜR Ret	NÜR	NÜR	-	-
			Markus Oestreich
			Jordan Tresson
2016	Lexus RC F GT3	54	Lorenz Frey	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR 10	NÜR Ret	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR	NÜR	-	-
			Stéphane Ortelli

International GT Open

International GT Open
Year	Car	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
2017	Lexus RC F GT3	54	Albert Costa	EST 1	EST 5	SPA 1	SPA 7	LEC 3	LEC 6	HUN 3	HUN Ret	SIL 1	SIL 3	MON 8	MON 5	BAR Ret	BAR 1	3rd	57
			Philipp Frommenwiler

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2023	Ferrari 296 GT3	Jack Aitken	14	1	1	1	2	82	14th	7th
		Thierry Vermeulen	16	0	0	0	0	58	16th
		Albert Costa	2	0	0	0	0	8	28th
2024	Ferrari 296 GT3	Jack Aitken	16	3	4	0	3	128	8th	7th
		Thierry Vermeulen	16	0	1	2	1	71	15th

References

1. "Balance of Performance" (PDF). Blancpain GT Series. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
2. "Zwischen tradition und zukunft". Vectura Magazin. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
3. "A Closer Look At The Privateer Jaguar GT Programmes". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
4. "Blancpain Endurance Series 2012 Round 3 - Paul Ricard HTTT". AutoMobilSport.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
5. "A good test race for Emil Frey Racing" (PDF). Emil Frey Racing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
6. "Total 24 Hours of Spa: Qualifying Report". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
7. "Encouraging signs of life from Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar" (PDF). Emil Frey Racing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
8. "Blancpain Endurance Series Monza Bronze Test". Blancpain GT Series. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
9. "Emil Frey Racing with promising result in first testing" (PDF). Emil Frey Racing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
10. "Blancpain Endurance Series: Silverstone, Full Report, Bentley's Breakthrough Win". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
11. "2014 Blancpain Endurance Series Circuit Paul Ricard/France Main Race". Blancpaing GT Series. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
12. "Spa 24 Hours: Hours 14, 15 & 16 Report". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
13. "Emil Frey Racing 2015 Press kit". Emil Frey Racing. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
14. "Blancpain Endurance Series: Monza, Hour 1 Race Report". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
15. "Emil Frey Racing marks ambitious start to 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup". Blancpain GT Series. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
16. "Two Emil Frey Jaguar in 2017 Endurance Cup". Blancpain GT Series. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
17. "LEXUS RC F GT3 WINS CLASS ON VLN SERIES DEBUT". Lexus.
18. "Motorsports". Toyota Technocraft. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
19. "04.07.2015: 46. Adenauer ADAC Worldpeace Trophy" (PDF). VLN.
20. "05.09.2015: Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen" (PDF). VLN.
21. "Lexus RC F GT3 Delayed, Emil Frey Exploring Jaguar Options". dailysportscar.com.
22. "Misfortune dogs Lexus at second VLN Race". Emil Frey Racing. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
23. "16.07.2016: 56. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen" (PDF). VLN.
24. "2017 Balance of Performance for 2017 FIA GT3 Specifications". FIA.
25. "Entry List" (PDF). gtopen.net. GT Sport. Retrieved 9 May 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
26. "Emil Frey Lexus Racing celebrates debut in Portugal at GT Open season-opener". Emil Frey Racing. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
27. "Race 1: Costa-Frommenwiler (Emil Frey Lexus) again at the top". GT Open.
28. "Disappointing Race-Sunday for Emil Frey Lexus Racing at debut weekend at Hungaroring". Emil Frey Racing. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.