Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium: This past weekend marked the second showdown in the GT Open for the Austrian team, taking place on the rollercoaster circuit of the Ardennes: Spa-Francorchamps – and what a race it was! Only two of the total eight rounds in the international GT Open are endurance races – races that last three hours and one lap, with teams able to collect double points. “We got the absolute maximum out of this weekend,” said team owner Peter Reicher.

It was already clear during the free practice sessions: “This won’t be an easy task. We were missing a few test days at Spa,” reported driver Simon Reicher. With ninth and eleventh place finishes, the Audi R8 LMS evo II team from Kirchberg bei Mattighofen was far from satisfied. Peter Reicher commented: “The whole team gave everything to prepare our Audi in the best way possible and to develop a perfect setup. But the obvious imbalance in the Balance of Performance (BoP) and the quality differences in the tires made things very difficult for us. Both drivers complained about the strong performance fluctuations between tire sets.”

These difficulties were also reflected in the two qualifying sessions. With twelfth and fourth places – and after a competitor’s grid penalty – the team moved up to second place on the starting grid. The goal was now to confirm this result in the three-hour-and-one-lap race on Sunday. And that’s exactly what the Eastalent team did: Despite the tire issues, both drivers held their ground and confidently finished second. Simon Reicher explained: “From a championship perspective, it was a very successful weekend. Second place and a lot of points for the championship – we can be satisfied with that. We’ve positioned ourselves well. We didn’t have the perfect setup for qualifying and had to keep working on it into the race. In the end, it worked very well over the distance. Overall, we were missing a bit of pace – we could have made things easier for ourselves. So we’ll have to do our homework ahead of the next race at Hockenheimring. After the race is before the race.”

Next up is Audi territory – the Hockenheimring. From June 6 to 8, the International GT Open will race at the traditional circuit in Baden-Württemberg.