Photo : LAURENT CARTALADE / VISION SPORT 

 

Born in 1986 at Minden, René Rast made a name for himself in the various Porsche cups where he built a solid record (Carrera Cup of Germany winner in 2008 and 2012, Supercup winner in 2010-2011-2012 and Carrera World Cup winner in 2011). He got noticed by Audi, giving the R8 LMS a class victory at Daytona in 2012 and its second success, this time overall, at Spa-Francorchamps.

On June 14th and 15th, Rast joined Sébastien Loeb Racing and its Oreca-Nissan to compete in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans, with as teammates the Czech driver Jan Charouz and the French driver Vincent Capillaire. With a new superb result: for their first 24 Hours, the young German and the nine-time Rally World Champion team finished in the top 10 (eighth overall) and fourth in the LM P2 class. And that's not all: a few days later, with the Audi R8 LMS ultra and his fellow countryman Markus Winkelhock and Belgian Laurens Vanthoor, Rast won his first 24 Hours of Nürburgring (where the trio was joined by Christian Mamerow) then, on July 27th, his second 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps!

Soon to be 28 years old (October 26th), Rast has amassed in barely three years a fantastic record in long races. Will he have the same good fortune as the Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque, moved this year from the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS ultra to that of the R18 e-tron quattro? Only time will tell...

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WEDNESDAY JUNE 11 2014, FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING. René Rast (at left) share impressions with Vincent Capillaire at the wheel of Sébastien Loeb Racing's Oreca-Nissan.