Emil Frey Retains Aitken, Vermeulen for Second Season

Emil Frey Racing will head into its sophomore DTM campaign with an unchanged lineup, as Jack Aitken and Thierry Vermeulen have both been retained.

The Swiss squad will embark on a second season running the Ferrari 296 GT3 in the German sprint series, as well as Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and ADAC GT Masters.

It ended its maiden DTM campaign with seventh place in the teams’ standings, with Aitken picking up a victory at the Lausitzring while Vermeulen recorded a best finish of fifth at the Sachsenring.

Both drivers will stay on for a second season, with Aitken dovetailing his role with his commitments with Action Express Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

In addition to its presence in DTM, Emil Frey will also field two Ferraris in the Fanatec GT Europe Sprint Cup, with Vermeulen joined by Giacomo Altoe aboard the No. 69 car.

Altoe moves across from the No. 14 car, where Konsta Lappalainen will be joined by Ben Green.

Albert Costa, who drove alongside Vermeulen last year and also replaced Aitken at the Zandvoort DTM round during a WeatherTech Championship clash, does not return.

The Spaniard will part ways with the team after a nine-year tenure due to “other commitments and overlapping schedules.”

In addition to its DTM and Fanatec GT commitments, Emil Frey Racing will also return to ADAC GT Masters, the Italian GT Championship and Ferrari Challenge.

“We were able to gain a lot of experience with the Ferrari throughout last year and are still very convinced and impressed by what a great racing-car Ferrari has developed,” said team principal Lorenz Frey-Hilti.

“This year we are better prepared for the season, because last year the switch to Ferrari took place very late before the first race. The expectations from outside are very high, but we also have high expectations of ourselves.

“Our aim is to regularly finish in the Top-10, both in the DTM and in the Sprint Cup and the ADAC GT Masters. It is certainly a big challenge, and we obviously want to fight for victories, which is why we are on the race track in the first place.

“The Ferrari Challenge is completely new to us. We have no experience in the series and are entering five cars this year. We want to provide our customers with the best possible professional support and, of course, have a much larger program with the five cars.

“With Giacomo Altoè, we also have a professional racing driver at the start and we hope to be able to compete for victories there as well.

“We don’t know the series yet and are racing against very established teams that have been doing this for many years, but we hope that we can quickly deliver a good performance thanks to our many years of experience in GT racing.”