The Kirchberger GT3 Team Eastalent Racing made history once again last weekend (18 to 20 October) at the GT Open Monza 500. At the finale of the International GT Open 2024 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the two drivers secured second place to win the drivers’ championship. Audi racing drivers Christopher Haase and Simon Reicher are the International GT Open Champions 2024. It was a weekend filled with suspense.

Changing conditions on Friday couldn’t slow the team down. In both free practice sessions – the first in the rain, the second in the dry – the Austrians finished in first place. The first timed practice on Saturday resulted in sixth place, while Christopher Haase placed the Audi in fourth in the second practice that afternoon. This meant the drivers started from second overall for the three-hour endurance race, covering more than 500 kilometres and a full lap.

The race began on wet asphalt, which gave way to dry, sunny conditions. Simon Reicher, who took the start, safely guided the Audi R8 LMS evo II with start number 1 through the Prima Variante, but had to concede the lead in the following laps to a main competitor. The reason was clear: while Eastalent, starting from second, opted for a conventional slick tyre strategy, the eventual race winners started from eighth place and took the lead on the first lap. However, three pit stops, four driver changes, and a five-second handicap didn’t prevent the two drivers from fighting their way back to the front. Still, because the focus was on the championship, the engineers decided not to risk an attack on the lead car. Based on the championship standings, second place was enough to secure the drivers’ title.

“How are we supposed to feel as GT Open Champions 2024? We’ve just been driving in circles for three hours. It was a tough race, not easy to drive. All in all, we finished second in the race and are champions in the drivers' standings – absolutely unbelievable. We have to let it all sink in first,” said Simon Reicher after the race.

“I think we experienced a race today that summed up the entire season in three hours. In the end, we earned our reward, and I believe that our relationship – and this fighting spirit we displayed here at Eastalent Racing – made the difference,” reported Audi racing driver Christopher Haase.

After the team secured the team title and runner-up in the 2023 drivers' championship, and won the 24-hour race in Dubai earlier this year, it’s now clear that Eastalent Racing had far from satisfied its hunger for success before this latest win.

Team boss and mastermind Peter Reicher says: “We’ve done it again. There’s nothing better than having your hard work validated like this in the end. We won the team championship last year, the 24 Hours of Dubai, and now the GT Open Drivers’ Championship this year. What more could you want as a team? I have to let that settle in for a bit. To say it in German: I’m flashed.”

The nerves of Audi GT project manager Dietmar Ponticelli were also tested after so many years in motorsport: “This may be one of the last titles Audi wins with the help of Eastalent Racing. But I hope it’s not the last. I very much hope that Peter Reicher will race again with Audi next year – maybe in a different series, and just as successfully as in the GT Open. As an Austrian, I’m extremely proud that an Austrian team has won the GT Open drivers’ title. If you look closely at the GT3 sector, the GT Open is one of the most important championships that Eastalent Racing has now won for us (Audi). Even the start of the year, with the win at the 24 Hours of Dubai, was sensational – but today’s race was incredible. At the start, we thought the drivers’ title was lost, but then the team staged a sensational comeback. The script couldn’t have been written better. I’m not actually part of the team, but through Peter’s hospitality, I’ve become part of it. For me personally, it was nerve-wracking.”

Text: www.kartnet.de / Michael Schulz
Photo: www.kartpress.de / Michael Schulz

---