Last weekend marked the second showdown for the Kirchberg-based team in the GT Open on the Ardennes rollercoaster of Spa-Francorchamps. And what a race it was. Only two of the eight rounds in the International GT Open are so-called Endurance races—races lasting three hours and one lap, where teams can take home double points. “We brought the absolute maximum out of this weekend,” says team manager Peter Reicher.

That became evident already during free practice. “This won’t be an easy task. We lacked a few test days at Spa,” reports driver Simon Reicher. With ninth and eleventh place finishes in the sessions, the Audi R8 LMS evo II team from Kirchberg near Mattighofen was anything but satisfied. Peter Reicher adds: “The entire team gave everything to prepare our Audi as well as possible and to work toward a perfect setup. But the clear imbalance in the Balance of Performance (BoP) and the quality fluctuations in the tyres made things really difficult for us. Both drivers criticised the strong performance variation between tyre sets.”

These challenges were also reflected in the two qualifying sessions. With 12th and fourth places—after a competitor’s penalty was applied—the team ultimately moved up to second on the grid. Now it was a matter of confirming the result in Sunday’s three-hour and one-lap race. And the Kirchberg GT team delivered. Despite the tyre issues, both drivers held their ground and comfortably secured second place. “From the championship perspective, I’d say we had a very successful weekend,” reports Simon Reicher. “With second place and lots of points for the championship, we can be satisfied. We’ve taken a strong position in the title race. We didn’t find the best setup for the timed practice. We had to test our setup during the race itself. In the end, it worked very well over the distance. Overall, we lacked a bit of speed. We could have made it easier for ourselves. So, we have homework to do before the upcoming race at the Hockenheimring. After the race is before the race.”

Next up: the Hockenheimring. From June 6 to 8, the International GT Open will visit the historic circuit in Baden-Württemberg.

Source: Eastalent Racing/ www.kartpress.de / Michael Schulz
Photo: www.kartnet.de / Michael Schulz

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