speed team reached the 100,000 km milestone with its Audi R8 LMS GT3 chassis this year at the opening of the NLS season on the Nordschleife. Great longevity for the Audi renowned for its robustness.
“The Audi was driven almost exclusively by gentlemen in endurance races, so it was also significantly more gentle than a DTM carsaid Jil Herbst, team principal of the speed team. We attach great importance to regular car inspections and can count on many years of expertise in this area. We are perhaps still a little old fashioned in this area: here we still repair instead of simply replacing. »
The German team stuck a sticker marking the 100,000 km mark on its Audi R8 LMS GT3. In addition to the Goodyear Wingfoot Award, Team Speed won the SP9-Am and SP9 Pro-Am class in NLS.
Photo : Racepix
“We already knew we were going to win the SP9-Am championship thanks to the list of participants from the last raceHerbst continues. However, a start was imperative for us to also win the Goodyear Wingfood Award because we only needed a finish. As we had the support of the young Sascha Steinhardt on the Audi in the final, we decided to start in the Pro-Am category, in which, according to the provisional list of participants, there were also more cars entered . The fact that we won the title in this category is due to the fact that unfortunately not enough other GT3 drivers enter and this mainly concerns competitors in the Pro-Am category. However, we have always compared ourselves to the Pro-Am in the last races and we have often been able to leave a few teams behind us. »
The speed team will return to the Nordschleife in 2025 with the aim of retaining the title. The Audi, but also the Mercedes-AMG GT3, will participate in other races. The objective is also to drive in Italian GT.
Seeing a German team in Italian GT can be surprising. “Motorsport is becoming more and more difficult, especially in Germanyexplains the main team. Money is tight, costs are increasing enormously, and regulations are becoming stricter. We expect costs from the Italian GT that we haven’t had in Germany for several years. Additionally, we have the option to combine sprint and endurance races, or separate them. »
Photo : Patrick Holzer
The ADAC GT Masters is also one of the tracks for 2025 but the cost will decide whether it will be present or not.
Jil Herbst focuses on rising costs and strained relationships. “Being a woman, and relatively young, doesn’t make things easiershe explains. Costs have increased exorbitantly over the last two years, approximately +25%. At a time when everyone has to save, this is not an advantage. I’ve been in motorsport for a very long time, but over the last two or three years, relationships in the paddock have become a lot tougher. Fair play is increasingly lacking and we have noticed that competitors are taking targeted measures to attract customers to their offers. These challenges have only made us stronger and sharpened our focus on team cohesion, quality and innovation. We are convinced that our work and our values will be convincing in the long term and we can consider ourselves fortunate to have such wonderful and loyal clients and partners at our side. »
