The Red Bull Ring is always worth a visit as host of the ADAC GT Masters. In bright sunshine, the returning spectators enjoyed exciting races last weekend. Among the competitors was the Austrian GT3 team Eastalent Racing, with drivers Simon Reicher and Norbert Siedler—both also from Austria. After the young team scored points in both races during their debut in Oschersleben, expectations were high for the home race. Progress was made—and yes, the Austrians returned home with more points from the second round of the season.

Simon Reicher remained cautiously optimistic throughout the weekend:

“Our goal as a team is to score points in every race. With 14th place, we achieved a decent result in the first race on Saturday. Still, we have to be honest with ourselves—unfortunately, we weren’t able to test at the Red Bull Ring before our home race, and we felt that.”

The start to the weekend looked promising. With 15th and 11th places in the two free practice sessions on Saturday, the Austrians were on track, as the top 15 cars in the German GT Championship earn crucial championship points.

Simon Reicher analyzed the situation:

“We know partly where our weaknesses lie, but sometimes we don’t. One key factor is that we still don’t fully understand how to optimize the car–tyre combination. With a gap of just seven-tenths of a second to the front, we really weren’t far off. But with 18 cars within half a second at the Red Bull Ring, those seven-tenths become an eternity. Overall, the first qualifying session wasn’t good—that was on me. I couldn’t find my rhythm. The race, however, went well. Climbing from 22nd to 14th was a solid performance. Unfortunately, the second qualifying session for Sunday’s race didn’t go well either—and that was clearly on us. We now need to analyze the data to understand why. Norbert also had braking problems in qualifying. That’s not ideal for the Red Bull Ring, which is a pure high-speed circuit with many heavy braking zones. But that’s motorsport: everything needs to come together perfectly to have a shot at victory. To be well prepared for Zandvoort, we’ll make good use of the time we have.”

For teammate Norbert Siedler, the situation was clear:

“We certainly had high hopes for our home race. Honestly, I thought it would be very tough for us with the Audi at the Red Bull Ring. It’s not a typical Audi track. In the ADAC GT Masters, split-second decisions are everything. It would have been nice to perform a bit better because our race pace was actually quite strong overall. We lacked performance on the very long straights, which also feature elevation changes. In the infield—the section with the fast corners—we were always one of the fastest teams during free practice. But the three to four-tenths of a second we lose on the long straights are nearly impossible to recover given the competitiveness in the ADAC GT Masters. Now we’re looking ahead to Zandvoort. I think the track will suit our Audi’s characteristics much better.”

And so the Austrians are eagerly looking ahead to the next event. The third round of the ADAC GT Masters will take place from 24 to 26 June in Zandvoort, located right on the Dutch North Sea coast.

Text: www.kartpress.de / Michael Schulz
Photos: ADAC-Motorsport

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