Phoenix Racing boss Ernst Moser hopes that Martin Tomczyk's DTM title this year will convince Audi to award his team a top driver lineup next year.
Moser's squad managed to win the championship with Tomczyk, despite running a pair of 2008-spec A4s for the German and Swiss rookie Rahel Frey. But he now hopes that this success – which included three victories – will help his team continue to run at the front of the field alongside Audi's "A team" Abt Sportsline, which was the only one of the manufacturer's outfits to run 2009-spec cars this season.
"I hope for a good driver pairing when Audi will have decided on the driver lineup this winter," said Moser."And should we be able to battle it out at the front end of the field right from the beginning of the season, it would be nice if we could again become a factor in the fight for the title."
Moser believes that Audi's new A5 DTM, which will make its race debut next year under the championship's dramatically new technical regulations, is on-track in terms of development.
"I hope for a competitive car for the new DTM era," he added. "And everything I've seen so far demonstrates that Audi once again is on the exactly right path, with the new Audi A5 DTM."