Wolfgang Reip

Last updated

Wolfgang Reip
Wolfgang-Reip.jpg
Reip in 2018
Nationality Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgian
Born (1986-10-01) 1 October 1986 (age 38)
Etterbeek, Belgium
Racing licence FIA Silver Driver.png FIA Silver (until 2015, 2019–) [1]
FIA Gold Driver.png FIA Gold (2016–2018) [2]

Wolfgang Reip (born 1 October 1986 [3] in Etterbeek) is a Belgian racing driver.

Contents

Early career

Racing karts from the age of six at his local indoor karting track, Reip began to develop his passion for racing and started racing in 4-stroke karting races around Belgium. Despite moving up to 2-stroke karting at 11, Reip lacked the budget to compete in races and had to wait until 2010 to get his first taste of cars, taking part in the Paris-based Pro Pulsion driving school, where he placed third at the end of the shootout.

Two years later, Reip competed in the 2012 GT Academy competition, which was a joint venture between Nissan and the developers of Gran Turismo with the goal of identifying potential racers via online racing events. Having competed in the time trials alongside 830,000 other participants, Reip advanced as one of the 36 finals to an eight day race camp at Silverstone. At the end of the race camp, Reip won the "GT Academy Race" and became the champion of the 2012 European GT Academy. [4] [5]

Career

Making his car racing debut at the 2013 Dubai 24 Hour in the SP3 class, [6] Reip had nowhere to go when he hit a loose wheel during his stint, which caused the car to be put into the garage for repairs mid-race. [7]

During the rest of 2013, Reip mainly competed in both the FIA GT Series and the Blancpain Endurance Series for Team RJN. [8] [9] In the former, Reip scored three class podiums, two of which at the Slovakia Ring, [10] [11] and the third one at Navarra, on his way to fifth in the Pro-Am points. [12] Meanwhile in the latter, Reip scored a lone class podium at the 24 Hours of Spa and finished 10th in the Pro-Am standings. [13]

Near the end of 2013, Reip made his LMP2 debut at the 6 Hours of Bahrain for Greaves Motorsport. [14] In his only race in prototypes, Reip came fifth overall and third in LMP2. [15]

In 2014, Reip made his debut in the Bathurst 12 Hour and 24 Hours of Le Mans. [16] [17] At Bathurst, Reip was not able to finish the race as teammate Katsumasa Chiyo was involved in a crash, [18] while at Le Mans, the Nissan ZEOD RC's gearbox failed in the first hour. [19] Competing in British GT Championship in the second half of the year, [20] Reip finished second in the second race at Spa. [21]

Returning to Bathurst for 2015 alongside Alex Buncombe and Katsumasa Chiyo, [22] they qualified third and despite a last-minute driver change, with Florian Strauss filling in for Buncombe, the trio took a historical win at the Australian enduro after Chiyo went from third to first in the last ten minutes of the race. [23] Following his win at Bathurst, Reip returned to the Blancpain Endurance Series alongside Chiyo and Buncombe, [24] with whom he would win at Le Castellet and take the Blancpain Endurance Series title by three points at the season-ending Nürburgring round. [25] [26]

Despite winning the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series, Reip was dropped by Nissan in early 2016, [27] and joined Bentley Team M-Sport to defend his Blancpain Endurance Series title. [28] Scoring a lone third place finish at Monza, Reip finished third in the standings in his fourth and final season in the series. [29]

After spending 2017 on the sidelines, Reip made a one-off appearance in the Spa round of the 2018 International GT Open. [30] In the two races, Reip scored a best result of seventh in race one. [31]

Having had hearing problems since 2014, Reip revealed eight years later that he had been suffering from Hyperacusis, which led to an abrupt end to his racing career four years earlier. [32] [33]

Racing record

Racing career summary

SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/LapsPodiumsPointsPosition
2013Dutch GT4 Cup100000NC
Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race Nismo Global Athlete Program 10000N/A6th
Blancpain Endurance Series – Pro-Am Nissan GT Academy Team RJN 500013610th
FIA GT Series – Pro-Am 100003765th
FIA World Endurance Championship – LMP2 Greaves Motorsport 100011521st
2014 Bathurst 12 Hour – A Nismo Global Athlete Program 10000N/ADNF
Protyre Formula Renault Championship Fortec Motorsports [34] 300004114th
VLN Series – SP9 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN 100000NC
Blancpain Endurance Series – Pro-Am 200001221st
British GT Championship – GT3 500011827th
Super GT – GT300 NDDP Racing [35] 100000NC
2015 Bathurst 12 Hour – AA Nismo Global Athlete Program 11001N/A1st
Blancpain Endurance Series Nissan GT Academy Team RJN 51122621st
Renault Sport Trophy – Elite Monlau Competición [36] 300024510th
Renault Sport Trophy – Endurance 21001378th
Super GT – GT300 NDDP Racing [37] 100000NC
2016 Blancpain Endurance Series Bentley Team M-Sport 50001593rd
Intercontinental GT Challenge 100011511th
2018 International GT Open Aston Martin Brussels Racing20000437th
Sources: [38]

Complete Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup results

YearEntrantClassCar1234567RankPoints
2013 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Pro-Am Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 MNZ
8
SIL
Ret
LEC
Ret
SPA
6H

3
SPA
12H

4
SPA
24H

3
NÜR
8
10th36
2014 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Pro-Am Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 MNZ
SIL
LEC
SPA
6H

7
SPA
12H

16
SPA
24H

12
NÜR
6
21st12
2015 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Pro Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 MNZ
8
SIL
13
LEC
1
SPA
6H

25
SPA
12H

25
SPA
24H

15
NÜR
3
1st62
2016 Bentley Team M-Sport Pro Bentley Continental GT3 MNZ
3
SIL
46
LEC
4
SPA
6H

5
SPA
12H

1
SPA
24H

4
NÜR
20
3rd59

Complete FIA GT Series results

YearClassTeamCar123456789101112Pos.Points
2013 Pro-AmNissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 NOG
QR

13
NOG
CR

14
ZOL
QR

15
ZOL
CR

14
ZAN
QR

Ret
ZAN
QR

11
SVK
QR

12
SVK
CR

8
NAV
QR

11
NAV
CR

6
TBA
QR
TBA
CR
5th76

* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

YearEntrantClassCarEngine12345678RankPoints
2013 Greaves Motorsport LMP2 Zytek Z11SN Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL SPA LMS SÃO
COA FUJ
SHA
BHR
3
21st15

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
2014 Flag of Japan.svg NISMO Athlete Global Team Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Buncombe
Flag of Japan.svg Katsumasa Chiyo
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 A58DNFDNF
2015 Flag of Japan.svg NISMO Athlete Global Team Flag of Japan.svg Katsumasa Chiyo
Flag of Germany.svg Florian Strauss
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 AA2691st1st

Complete Protyre Formula Renault Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearTeam123456789101112131415PosPoints
2014 Fortec Motorsports ROC
1

7
ROC
2

6
ROC
3

14
DON
1

DON
2

DON
3

BRH
1

BRH
2

SNE
1

SNE
2

SNE
3

CRO
1

CRO
2

SIL
1

SIL
2

14th41

Complete British GT Championship results

YearTeamCarClass12345678910DCPoints
2014 Nissan GT Academy
RJN Motorsport
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 GT3 OUL
1
OUL
2
ROC SIL SNE
1

14
SNE
2

16
SPA
1

16
SPA
2

2
BRH DON
11
27th18

As Mardenborough was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
2014 Flag of Japan.svg Nissan Motorsports Global Flag of Spain.svg Lucas Ordóñez
Flag of Japan.svg Satoshi Motoyama
Nissan ZEOD RC CDNT5DNFDNF
Sources: [39] [40]

Complete Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearTeamCarClass12345678DCPts
2014 NDDP Racing with B-MAX Nissan GT-R GT3 GT300 OKA
FUJ
AUT
SUG
FUJ
SUZ
19
BUR
MOT
NC0
2015 NDDP Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 GT300 OKA
FUJ
CHA
FUJ
SUZ
14
SUG
AUT
MOT
NC0

Complete International GT Open results

Pos.TeamCarClass1234567891011121314PosPoints
2018 Aston Martin Brussels Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Pro EST
1
EST
2
LEC
1
LEC
2
SPA
1

7
SPA
2

17
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
MNZ
1
MNZ
2
CAT
1
CAT
2
37th4

References

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