Tomczyk thought his career was "done" after Audi DTM demotion in 2011

Tomczyk was a fixture in Abt's lineup from 2001 to 2010, winning four races and taking a best finish of third in 2007.

But following a disappointing 2010 season, he was demoted from Abt to an older-spec Audi run by Team Phoenix, with his place being taken by Mike Rockenfeller.

However Tomczyk and Phoenix formed a formidable partnership in 2011 as the German romped to his and the team's first DTM crown, becoming the first driver in an older-generation car to achieve the feat.

Speaking to Autosport for a career retrospective feature following his retirement from driving at the end of last season, the 40-year-old explained that his initial reaction to being informed of the news by then Audi Motorsports boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich was one of disbelief.

"At first I was super-shocked and I couldn’t believe it that it had happened," recalled Tomczyk, who saw out the remainder of his DTM career with BMW before focusing on sportscars from 2017 onwards.

"Last year’s car had never any chance to win or to be even close to the podium, so for me it was clear, ‘now my career is done’. I will never have a chance."

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"From Ullrich’s side – I don’t know, at the end, now he can say, ‘It was absolutely right because [Tomczyk] needed another atmosphere to perform’ and perhaps it was the case."

Martin Tomczyk, Audi Sport Team Phoenix

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Tomczyk explained that he held a meeting with his family and "tried to find something else", before committing to Ernst Moser's team with the plan of becoming the quickest year-old car.

He regards the whirlwind 2011 season, in which he scored the team's first wins since 2000 and never finished lower than fifth, as one that "made me absolutely complete as a race driver".

"To work with Ernst and his team, get out the performance of the car, be the underrated driver in the season and the underrated team, and to swap and flip this whole situation, it made me just complete as a race driver," said Tomczyk, who now heads up the organisation of the DTM Trophy series for GT4 cars.

"It was a very important year. And Ernst obviously as well because he stepped out of always being, ‘just an Audi team’, he was a champion team for Audi.

"So a lot of things came together in that year."