Le Castellet/France – The Kirchberger Eastalent Racing Team travelled last weekend (18th–20th) with a clear mission to Le Castellet in southern France: to defend the lead in the International GT Open at the traditional Paul Ricard Circuit. The memories of the previous year, when they shone with a victory, had nourished hopes – but this time everything went differently.

“We struggled even in free practice. Even though it looked better at times, it quickly became clear that this weekend would be difficult,” Simon Reicher analysed in retrospect. Qualifying on Saturday in particular revealed the challenges: dissatisfied with his pace, Reicher had to tackle the first race from eighth on the grid.

But already in the initial phase, things went wrong: “An over-motivated competitor hit me on the rear in the first lap – I spun and dropped back to second-to-last place,” says Reicher. He then fought back to 13th place with a strong effort and handed over the Audi R8 LMS evo II to team-mate Christopher Haase, who continued to catch up – made more difficult by a 20-second handicap imposed on the team after the Hungaroring victory by the BoP.

Then the shock moment: “Christopher was on course for eighth place when another driver pushed our Audi into the concrete wall with a reckless manoeuvre. I have no words for this. Only Christopher's driving skills prevented worse – normally the weekend would have been over for us,” Reicher said, clearly moved. Despite damage to the vehicle, Christopher was able to safely bring the car into the run-off zone.

Strong reaction on Sunday

Sunday was not ideal, but the team was able to limit the damage. Christopher qualified the Audi in third place on the grid, although the team “was missing about five tenths of a second for no explainable reason.” The balance of performance also made it difficult to compete on the straights.

In the race, Christopher held the position until the driver change, before another handicap – this time again five seconds – disrupted the rhythm. In the end, there was sixth place. “Under the circumstances, we can live with it,” Reicher summed up. “But we urgently need to go into medias res and put everything to the test. Otherwise, I see black for the championship – we are currently fighting with blunt weapons.”

Team manager Peter Reicher also drew a sober conclusion: “That was a weekend to forget. Nevertheless, we scored important points on Sunday and reduced our handicap to five seconds. This will help us in the upcoming home race. I am particularly proud of our drivers – especially Christopher, who kept his nerves in a dangerous situation and prevented greater damage.”

Christopher Haase was visibly dissatisfied after the difficult race weekend. “Unfortunately, we did not get the last icing on the cake out of the car,” the Audi driver summarised. Although the team was prepared for a challenging event, additional obstacles had made the already difficult task unnecessarily harder.

Next stop: Home game at the Red Bull Ring

The focus now shifts to the big home game: from September 5th to 7th, the sixth round of the International GT Open Championship 2025 is on the agenda at the Red Bull Ring. With only five seconds of handicap, the team travels to Spielberg highly motivated – in the hope of being able to fully attack again on home soil.

Source: Eastalent Racing
Photo: kartnet.de

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