- Rahel Frey and Philip Geipel team-mates for fourth year in succession
-
German outfit intends to repeat last year's success
Munich: Continuity is the watchword at YACO Racing for the 2017 season. As in the previous year, the team from Plauen near the Czech border will field an Audi R8 in the ADAC GT Masters with drivers Rahel Frey (31, Switzerland) and Philip Geipel (31, Plauen). This will be their fourth year in the Super Sports Car League which will kick off its new season on the weekend of 28th - 30th April in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. SPORT1 will broadcast all races live and in full.
Team principal Uwe Geipel told us: “We're going for a well-tried and tested combo. Rahel and Philip have been together with us since 2014, which means that the whole outfit works extremely well as a team, and possible sources of error are eliminated before they arise. Apart from being successful, the fun element is important to us too, and Rahel certainly knows how to have a laugh."
In 2016, the first year of competition for the second generation Audi R8, YACO Racing won the second race in Zandvoort and went on to take another podium in their home race at the Sachsenring. Philip Geipel finished the season eighth overall. His team-mate Frey, who had to miss a race weekend, placed ninth overall. Up until that point, no YACO-Racing driver had ever managed to finish so high up the field in the ADAC GT Masters since the team first joined the series in 2012. It comes, therefore, as no big surprise, that the driver pairing of Frey & Geipel remains unchanged this season.
Their aim in 2017 is to repeat last year's success. Uwe Geipel: "Both our drivers made it into the Top Ten last year, despite the fact that there were five races where we failed to score points as a result of no-fault collisions. We want to get through the year without any retirements and consistently score points. That guarantees that you finish up front in the end. Last year's championship-winning team took only one win but achieved a further six podiums."