Ex-Audi Factory Stars Confirmed in Eastalent Lineup

Photo: Eastalent Racing

Eastalent Racing has announced that ex-Audi Sport factory drivers Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock will spearhead the Austrian squad’s entry into GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

The 2024 International GT Open championship-winning squad will move to SRO competition this year, fielding an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in both the Endurance and Sprint Cups.

Hasse and Simon Reicher, who won the GT Open title, will contest the entire ten-event GTWC Europe season, with Winkelhock joining them for the five enduros, including the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa in June.

It marks a reunion of the Hasse and Winkelhock driving partnership, with the duo having notably won the 2017 Spa event in a Sainteloc Audi.

The team made several starts in GTWC Europe competition in 2024 but this year’s campaign will be its first full season attempt.

Despite the Audi being out of production, a number of teams, most notably in Europe, Asia and Australia, continue to campaign the V10-powered GT3 contender.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John