The ADAC GT Masters celebrated its 15^th season-opener last weekend (May 14–16). Under its new name “German GT Championship”, the series returned from winter break with thrilling racing. As in recent years, the season’s first race traditionally took place in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. And YACO Racing from Saxony is back! The team from director Uwe Geipel spent last year preparing for the new challenges in the ADAC GT Masters, now returning to the circuit with an Audi R8 LMS. Deputy team director Peter Reicher commented the team’s new steps as follows: “We really like the authenticity of the ADAC GT Masters. This series is an opportunity to measure yourself against the best of the best. We are very happy to have Veedol as a partner on our side – a company that lives motorsports just like we do. Motorsports are there to be touched and felt, and that’s how we like it. It’s a bummer that we probably won’t be welcoming any fans to the racetrack this season either. We hope everyone continues to keep their fingers crossed following us virtually on TV.”

The weekend commenced with the two Austrian drivers Simon Reicher (21) and Norbert Siedler (38) trying to find the perfect setup for qualifying and the races. Simon Reicher shares his perspectives: “I don’t have a lot of experience setting up a GT3 car for every bit of speed possible. I am happy to be able to contribute to the setup and verify my feedback from the car with that of my team-mate. These are valuable experiences for me.”

How much these experiences are worth already showed during the free practice sessions. Small mistakes have big effects in GT racing. The mechanics left no screw unturned to change the car’s setup during a Friday night shift. But even for the qualifying and first race of the season, the team was not able to eliminate all weak spots. “It’s very uncomfortable when you feel a different car under you in every corner, in every lap. For us drivers, trust in the car is the most important thing as we constantly move at the limits of physics. Unfortunately, we did not manage this during the first race,” explains Norbert Siedler. He is confident that the YACO team will give it their all to find and remove every last imperfection from the car.

After a mixed start into the weekend, Sunday’s race turned into a turbulent roller coaster ride for the team from Saxony. It began to rain right at race start – the right choice of tires and two homemade mistakes led the team to miss out on a sensation. Starting from 24^th position, seasoned driver Norbert Siedler was the first to sit behind the wheel. While it was clear at the start that the rain tire would be the better choice, conditions turned to favor the dry slick tires halfway through the race. The pit stop turned into a mess, though. The team lost a full 20 seconds in the pits. Simon Reicher had barely taken over the wheel when the #54 Audi received a drive-through penalty. Another valuable 20 seconds lost due to speeding in the “Full Course Yellow” phase. Looking at the gap to the winners after a great eleventh position finish and counting the lost 40 seconds, YACO barely missed out on a small sensation.

Simon Reicher sums up the season-opener: “This weekend was very, very mixed. We are far from saying that it was a good weekend. Not even the positive result in the second race saves us. Of course, our leaps forward during the race thanks to some luck and a great strategy were good progress, but we could have achieved a significantly better result without the drive-through penalty and sour pit stop. All in all, we have a lot of work ahead of us. The entire weekend was not satisfactory. We have to work hard and get the car fit so that we can be competitive under normal conditions. The strong result of the second race has motivated us even more for our upcoming home race at the Red Bull Ring.”

Norbert Siedler sees potential in the overall package: “Yes, we have a lot to learn and yes, we hoped for more this weekend. But Sunday’s second race went quite well. We have our homework: we need to disassemble the car back home, measure everything, and rebuild the car so that we are more competitive at the Red Bull Ring than here in Oschersleben. Of course, our goal is to score points. A Top 15 result should be possible in the future and as we develop a better and better car, a Top 10 result should be in there too.”

The second race weekend will be hosted at the Austrian Red Bull Ring from June 11 to 13.