Last weekend, Simon Reicher hoped to continue where he left off two weeks ago at the Monza circuit in Italy. He traveled to the Magdeburg Börde for the third of seven events in the ADAC TCR Germany Series, racing against 35 competitors from 11 nations. But things were not easy and the 17-year-old experienced a tough weekend on the 3,667 meter long circuit of the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

“Already during Friday’s free practice session, we noticed that the Audi RS 3 LMS is not ‘sticking’ to the asphalt as usual”, says the youngster. This was going to be a lasting issue throughout the entire weekend, regardless of which set-up the team decided on. Both the second free practice and qualifying session, highly important in Oschersleben, which is a difficult track for overtaking, did not see Reicher placing better than 34th place. “Okay, some race weekends don’t go as planned, but you often can fight your way back and show some good performance. This was a weekend to forget”, reports the disappointed Austrian. His team did do everything in its hands to provide the young motorsport talent a competitive car – damper, toe, camber, and down force adjustments – nothing was left untried. “We were tinkering in circles all weekend, until we finally found a crucial parameter on Sunday afternoon. Upside of the weekend: I learned a lot about the car and its settings, although I would have preferred gaining these experiences during a normal testing day,” Reicher analyzes his view of the situation.

In numbers, Simon Reicher placed 31st in the first practice session, brought back all hopes with 16th place in the second session, but took home 34th position in the qualifying, a gloomy feeling for the team. “When your car is not behaving as you would like it to, you make yourself crazy. That’s not beneficial. In fact, it is crucial to stay calm, analyze the data together with the team, and keep up the focus,” the sympathetic racer summarizes. As a passionate guitarist, he adds smiling: “I’ll be at the Guns N’ Roses Concert in Vienna tomorrow letting out all my frustration from the weekend.”

According to his team, Reicher will be competitive again in the upcoming race at Zandvoort (NL), July 21-23, 2017. The famous circuit right along the dunes of Holland’s coast is not just his team’s home track; Reicher has plenty of race experience there, as well. His latest positive result was a joint third place in the TCR Benelux together with his mentor and coach Jaap van Lagen just a few weeks ago. The races will be broadcast live by Sport1.