Last weekend’s (August 29) ROWE 6-hour ADAC Ruhr-Pokal race is viewed as the dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours Nürburgring. Successfully completing the quarter-distance was the primary focus for the young Austrian Simon Reicher. He and his teammates Elia Erhart, Pierre Kaffer, and Jan-Erik Slooten from IRON FORCE RACING EPP Car Collection by TECE took on the challenge.

In show business a bad dress rehearsal is considered a good omen that leads to a fantastic premiere. Simon Reicher sums up his dress rehearsal as “faster, better, securer” and explains: “We are growing together as a team. We mesh more and more like gears, which is reflected by noticeably more routine in our day-to-day and faster lap times on the circuit.”

19th place during Saturday’s qualifying certainly did not match the aspired goal. The civil engineering student takes on the responsibility: “I’m still a little too hesitant when lapping slower cars on the track. The Nordschleife has absolutely nothing in common with any other circuit. I’ve gotten quite a bit faster, but I have room for improvement and some work to do so that we qualify better for races.”

Position 20 in the overall ranking and second place in the SP9 Pro-Am ranking is quite impressive for a small privately financed team. Simon Reicher even sees “potential for the 24-hour race. We have improved, become securer, collected important mileage and experience, and become significantly faster. If we successfully learn from all the data we’ve collected, we definitely have a shot at being competitive in the Pro-Am ranking of the 24-hour edition.”

The legendary ADAC TOTAL 24 Hours Nürburgring take place September 24-27. Today’s event status does not plan for any spectators during this year’s edition. Those who do not want to miss out are welcome to support Simon Reicher and his team virtually: All information for the live stream can be found under https://www.24h-rennen.de/vor-ort-erlebnis-5/. “Of course, I’m bummed that my first 24-hour race on the Nordschleife will take place without filled grand stands and fans all over, but health is a priority for us all,” remarks the Kirchberg-native.