Eastalent Racing Suffers Early Exit at the Nürburgring

Nürburgring/Germany. Eastalent Racing travelled to the Nürburgring last weekend, 28–30 August, for the fourth and penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup. The Austrian squad arrived in the Eifel with plenty of motivation, not least thanks to fond memories of its sixth-place finish in the 24-hour race the previous year. A total of 28,000 spectators came to the Nürburgring to enjoy a weekend of spectacular racing.

In the end, however, it proved to be a challenging weekend for Eastalent Racing. Sunday’s three-hour race was over almost before it had begun: starting driver Markus Winkelhock was hit by another competitor in the opening corner, sending the Audi R8 LMS evo II into a spin and forcing the team into an early retirement.

Team Principal Peter Reicher summed up the weekend with understandable disappointment: “It was a frustrating weekend for us. We only really found our rhythm in qualifying today, and then we were taken out of the race before we had the chance to show what was possible. It seems as though 2026 simply isn’t our year.”

Vehicle Engineer Christian Schmidt-Gogler explained: “Our weekend was characterised by the sort of challenges that can occur during any race weekend. In qualifying, we managed to get ourselves back on the right track, although we were not able to fully maximise our performance. Unfortunately, our race then came to an end in the very first corner after a competitor braked too late. You could say we were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am convinced there was still more potential in the car. Nevertheless, we will keep pushing and head to the Sprint Cup in Zandvoort with renewed determination.”

Markus Winkelhock also saw plenty of positives despite the early retirement: “We struggled with the balance during free practice. In qualifying, though, the Audi was absolutely spot on – for me personally, it was the best car I have had all season. It felt really strong. I probably could have extracted a little more from it, but I was surprised by just how much additional grip we had found. Even from 23rd on the grid, I was very optimistic. I thought that if we could stay out of trouble, we had a good chance of bringing home a solid result. I got a very good start, but unfortunately our race was already over in Turn 1. Another competitor hit me, spun me around and ended our race before it had really begun.”

Christopher Haase was equally encouraged by the progress made ahead of the race: “We started the weekend well, lost our way a little in between, but then came back very strongly. The car felt extremely good in qualifying and was great fun to drive. Starting from 23rd position, however, there is always a lot that can happen in the opening phase of the race. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. Markus was hit, spun around and our race was over in Turn 1. There was nothing he could have done about it, but as a team we know that these situations are always part of racing.”

Simon Reicher added: “I had really been looking forward to racing at the Nürburgring. It is a fantastic circuit and one that I really enjoy. After free practice, we had to work hard as a team to get the car back into the right operating window. Unfortunately, I did not get absolutely everything out of the Audi in my qualifying session, otherwise we could certainly have started further up the grid. Markus was completely blameless for what happened in the race. That is motorsport – sometimes these things happen. It is frustrating, but we will move on and focus on the next opportunity.”

Eastalent Racing will return to action in three weeks’ time. From 18 to 20 September, the team will compete at Zandvoort in the fourth of five rounds of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup.