A few weeks after winning the International GT Open in 2023, the Upper Austrians travelled to Dubai for their first 24-hour race with Creventic. The Eastalent Racing Team, founded only two years ago, seems to be riding a wave of success. 24-hour races, in particular, have their own dynamics and are considered especially demanding in motorsport. Christopher Haase, Gilles Magnus, Simon Reicher, Markus Winkelhock, and Mike Zhou impressively piloted their Audi R8 LMS evo II to the fastest overall time over 24 hours.

Team owner Peter Reicher couldn’t believe his luck: “It’s incredible! Our first 24-hour race and then a victory. If I’m honest, I expected anything but that. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve built. And by that, I mean everyone in our team, who gave 120 percent for this success. Everyone is hungry,” he says with a smile on his face.

Peter Reicher shared that the decision to take part in this event was made relatively late: “It’s very expensive to get all the equipment, including the car and crew, to Dubai. So even dreaming of a podium finish was bold. But let’s be honest. Even though each of us has been involved in motorsport for many years, as a newcomer, it’s anything but easy to take on such a task. Only after we realised during free practice that we could keep up with the best did we begin to think about higher goals. Winning a 24-hour race is a huge achievement in motorsport.”

Audi Sport driver Christopher Haase, who has already won several 24-hour races—most recently the Dubai edition in 2019—analysed the situation like this: “The goal of winning was already on our agenda. We are racing drivers. As a rule, we can’t be satisfied with second place. We honestly gave everything, especially mentally, to achieve this goal, yet I didn’t expect a victory. Competing against very strong and fast rivals, we were able to make our mark. We led the race for more than 20 hours. Not only did our competitors face difficulties, but we also had our share of problems. Since we made the fewest mistakes overall, we deserved the win. I’m very proud of that.”

Simon Reicher, son of the team owner and also a driver, shared his thoughts on the 24-hour race in Dubai: “I travelled to Dubai with mixed feelings. Our goal was to compete with the best. But we didn’t really know where we stood. Only during the free practice sessions did it seem like we could keep up with the top ten teams. But then everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It started with engine damage. After our mechanics gave everything and installed a new engine, we couldn’t find a suitable setup. And then it continued with many small issues. Surprisingly, qualifying went well with sixth place. That met our expectations and impressed me.”

Simon Reicher continued: “I didn’t expect this at all before the weekend. Just finishing a 24-hour race is difficult enough. Winning a championship like the International GT Open was already huge for me, but winning a 24-hour race is something else entirely. For 24 hours, mind, body, and machine must work together at an extremely high level. It’s incredibly exhausting. If you want to race at the front, you have to deliver a perfect lap every time. And that’s exactly what makes it so special. Emotionally, it has its own significance.”

Reicher summed up the season opener: “Today we’re enjoying the sweet honey of victory before we sit down at home and analyse our mistakes. This was definitely not our last 24-hour race. After all, we’ve started 2024 in first-class fashion. We want to carry this positive momentum into the 2024 season. Without any expectations, we want to begin defending our GT Open title. And we know that in 2024 we’ll have to fight hard again and deal with setbacks. In summary, Dubai was a great success that we will now build on.”

Text: kartpress.de/Michael Schulz
Photos: kartnet.de/Michael Schulz.

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