With a purely Austrian team, Eastalent Racing made a strong statement at the legendary 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. Drivers Christian Klien, Norbert Siedler, Max Hofer and Simon Reicher secured an impressive sixth place overall in one of the world’s toughest GT3 races, held from June 20 to 22.

The team, founded by and centred around “mastermaker” Peter Reicher from Kirchberg in Upper Austria, competed under the tongue-in-cheek name “Bob Österreich 1” – a name that quickly made the rounds in the pit lane.

Although Eastalent Racing was only founded in 2020, the team is already demonstrating on the international stage that Austria is a force to be reckoned with in motorsport. In January 2024, they celebrated their first major triumph: overall victory at the 24 Hours of Dubai. With their success at the Nordschleife, Eastalent Racing is continuing its story of success – proudly flying the red and white colours even on the world’s toughest racetrack.

Heat, power failure and a strong statement: Austria defies the “Green Hell”

Extreme weather is practically tradition at the Nürburgring 24 Hours – the Nordschleife is not called the “Green Hell” for nothing. While cold, hail, or dense fog caused chaos in recent years, this time it was intense heat that pushed both man and machine to their limits. And it wasn’t just the competitors who were tested: just two hours into the race, a power failure caused the race to be interrupted. A faulty cooling unit shut down the entire pit system – a forced pause that heavily influenced proceedings.

Despite the challenges, the Austrian Eastalent Racing team stayed on course – and team manager Peter Reicher used the spotlight to send a clear message back home: “When I presented the project – a purely Austrian team with Austrian drivers – people smiled at me, didn’t take it seriously,” said Reicher after the race. “Now we’ve created something worthy of the motorsport history books. We’ve shown that motorsport exists in Austria.”

With Christian Klien and Norbert Siedler, Reicher relied on internationally experienced drivers, while Max Hofer and Simon Reicher represented the next generation of talent. A combination that paid off: “We ran a smart race, stayed out of all the trouble, played to our consistency, and gained position after position.”

Reicher was also particularly proud of the team’s performance and his personal connection to the Audi brand: “I’m one of the last Audi men. It makes me especially proud to deliver this result for the brand with the four rings.”

From outsider to surprise team: sixth place exceeds all expectations

Originally, Eastalent Racing’s goal was simply a top ten finish – but with sixth place, the red-and-white team exceeded all expectations. For driver Simon Reicher, the weekend was an emotional rollercoaster.

“At first, it didn’t look like we were – to quote our race engineer – going to pull the sausage off the plate,” said Reicher with a grin. “The conditions were extremely difficult. The heat was brutal, the car tough to drive, and it took a lot of effort to get the tyres into the optimal operating window.”

The team narrowly missed the weekend’s first major milestone – Top Qualifying – a setback early on. But what followed was a display of consistency and teamwork: “We knew we didn’t have the outright pace to match the top teams. So we focused on reliability and consistent performance – over the full 24 hours.”

The fact that this was the team’s first Nürburgring appearance makes the result all the more remarkable: “None of us had done real laps at the Nordschleife before this race. To pull off such a debut as a private team is an incredible achievement.”

Simon Reicher offered special thanks to those behind the scenes: “Without our team manager Timo Frings, who knows the Nürburgring like the back of his hand, and Sebastian Hofmann, our workshop manager who prepared the car day and night to perfection – and the catering team around Renate – it wouldn’t have been possible. We drivers just had to bring it home.”

And how does one celebrate such a success? “Tonight, there’ll definitely be a beer – or an undefined number of them,” laughed Reicher.

Whether Eastalent Racing will return to the Nürburgring remains uncertain. But after this impressive performance, one thing seems clear: the Austrians have not caused their last sensation at the Nordschleife.

Source: www.kartpress.de / Michael Schulz
Photos: www.kartnet.de / Michael Schulz

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