The third race weekend of the German GT3 Championship 2022 took place last weekend (24 to 26 June) in Zandvoort, the Netherlands. For the young Austrian Eastalent Racing Team, the event was another highlight in the ADAC GT Masters calendar. The team was particularly impressed by the two steep curves installed in 2020. The two drivers agreed: “Going full throttle through this corner is simply sensational,” enthused Simon Reicher, and Norbert Siedler added: “This is unique in Europe and is incredibly fun.”

Speaking of fun: Friday began with second and fourteenth places in free practice—“A fantastic start to the weekend,” reported Simon Reicher. “We started with the right setup in practice. Sure, it takes a bit of luck. But this weekend, it was on our side.”

The Austrians carried that momentum into the hotly anticipated first qualifying session on Saturday. The experience and routine of team manager Burkhard Hesseler paid off. While the engineers wanted to wait a few minutes before sending the car out, aiming for the ideal time window, the team manager intervened. Hesseler simply said, “Go now—there’s a rain cloud coming.” And he was right. While Simon Reicher was on a flying lap during qualifying, it began to rain at the other end of the dune circuit. All other teams that had waited too long in the pit lane had to complete their flying laps on wet asphalt. Thanks to their smart tactics, the Austrians secured sixth place in qualifying.

Simon Reicher explained: “Our stated goal in the ADAC GT Masters is to score points—that means finishing between first and fifteenth. Even without prior testing at Zandvoort, we started the weekend with an excellent setup. That helped us a lot, not just in the free practice sessions but also in Saturday’s qualifying.” In the race, the Audi R8 LMS Evo II with start number 54 moved up to fourth place after the first corner. Just one lap later, the Austrians were already in third. Norbert Siedler was thrilled: “A great result and a really great weekend for us. We didn’t expect to be on the podium already at the third race weekend. Simon did a fantastic job—third place in his stint, with the entire Audi armada behind him. After the pit stop, I took over the Audi from Simon and was surprised at how well we could keep up with the fastest. The car was glued to the asphalt. We were able to match the leaders’ pace all on our own.”

It was expected that the second qualifying session on Sunday would be more difficult. The teams that had struggled with the weather on Saturday had a lot to prove. And they did, as Norbert Siedler reported: “The second qualifying session on Sunday wasn’t quite as good—15th place, although we were only 0.546 seconds behind the pole sitter. My fastest lap wasn’t perfect; I couldn’t make the most of my tyres' peak performance. But in the Masters, everything has to be spot-on. The level of competition is just incredibly high.” He’s right: a closer look at the entry list reveals that no fewer than six former Formula 1 drivers compete in the ADAC GT Masters. But in the race, their speed held up. After overtaking a Lamborghini and executing a strong race strategy, the Eastalent Racing Team secured 10th place in Sunday’s final. An excellent result, even despite a minor brake issue during Simon Reicher’s stint.

In retrospect, Simon and Norbert were in full agreement: “A huge thank you goes to the whole team, who did a fantastic job.” Overall, the Austrians were very satisfied with their performance and are already looking forward to their next outing at the Nürburgring. “If we manage to arrive at the Nürburgring again with a great setup and a bit of luck on our side, we should be able to score points there too. We’d be very happy with a top-ten finish,” said Simon Reicher.

The fourth highlight of the ADAC GT Masters season will take place from August 7 to 9 at the Nürburgring.

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

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