Austrians Rock the Nordschleife: Eastalent Racing Secures Sixth Place at the 24-Hour Race

Nürburgring/Rhineland-Palatinate – With an all-Austrian team, Eastalent Racing made a bold 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 from June 20 to 22 in one of the world’s toughest GT3 races.

The team from Kirchberg, Upper Austria, founded by mastermind Peter Reicher, raced under the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Bob Austria 1” – a name that quickly made the rounds in the paddock.

Despite only being founded in 2020, Eastalent Racing is already proving on the international stage that Austria is a serious contender in motorsport. Back in January 2024, the team claimed its first major triumph with an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Dubai. Now, with this success on the Nordschleife, Eastalent continues its winning streak – proudly flying the red-white-red flag on the world’s toughest racetrack.

Heat, Power Outage, and a Strong Statement: Eastalent Conquers the “Green Hell”

Weather chaos is almost tradition at the Nürburgring’s 24-hour race – the Nordschleife isn’t called the “Green Hell” for nothing. In previous years, cold, hail, or thick fog created chaos; this year, scorching heat pushed both humans and machines to the limit. And it wasn’t just the teams that struggled: just two hours after the race began, a power outage forced an interruption. A faulty cooling unit knocked out the entire pit lane infrastructure – a mandatory pause that heavily disrupted the race flow.

Despite all setbacks, the Austrian team from Eastalent Racing stayed the course. Team principal Peter Reicher used the moment to send a clear message home: “When I presented the project – an all-Austrian team with Austrian drivers – people laughed and didn’t take it seriously,” said Reicher after the race. “Now we’ve created something that belongs in the motorsport history books. We’ve shown the world that Austria has motorsport talent.”

With seasoned international drivers Christian Klien and Norbert Siedler, and young talents Max Hofer and Simon Reicher behind the wheel, Reicher’s lineup paid off: “We drove a smart race, stayed out of trouble, focused on consistency, and worked our way up position by position.” 

Reicher also expressed pride in the team effort and his personal connection to Audi: “I’m one of the last true ‘Audi guys.’ To deliver this result for the brand with the four rings makes me especially proud.”

From Underdog to Surprise Package: Sixth Place Exceeds All Expectations

Originally, Eastalent Racing merely dreamed of a top ten finish – but finishing sixth exceeded all expectations. For driver Simon Reicher, the weekend was an emotional rollercoaster.

“At first, it really didn’t look like we’d – to quote our race engineer – ‘get the sausage off the plate,’” said Reicher with a grin. “The conditions were brutally tough. The heat was insane, the car was difficult to handle, and we struggled to get the tires into their optimal operating window.”

The weekend’s first highlight – the Top Qualifying – narrowly slipped through their fingers, a setback right at the start. But what followed was a masterclass in consistency and teamwork: “We knew we couldn’t match the absolute pace of the top teams. So we focused on clean driving and steady performance – and kept it up for 24 hours.”

The fact that it was the team’s debut on the Nürburgring makes the result even more remarkable: “None of us had completed real laps on the Nordschleife before this race. For a private team to pull off a debut like this is a sensational achievement.”

Simon Reicher gave special credit to the behind-the-scenes crew:
“Without our team manager Timo Frings, who knows the Nürburgring like the back of his hand, and our workshop boss Sebastian Hofmann, who prepped the car to perfection day and night, this wouldn’t have been possible. We drivers just had to bring their hard work across the finish line.”

And how do you celebrate such a result? “Tonight, there will definitely be a beer – or an unspecified number of them,” Reicher said with a laugh.

Whether Eastalent Racing will return to the Nürburgring remains to be seen. But after this impressive debut, one thing seems certain: Austria hasn’t made its last impact on the Nordschleife.