Reiter Engineering
Reiter Engineering GmbH & Co Kg is a German racing team founded in 1994. The company is named after engineer and founder Hans Reiter. In 2000, Reiter entered a Lamborghini in the FIA GT Championship with its own Diablo GT built by the team. In 2003 the Diablo GT was replaced by the newer Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT, with increased development from Audi Sport, before also becoming the constructor of the Gallardo GT3 for the FIA GT3 European Championship and later the ADAC GT Masters. Besides running the factory squads in their respective championships Reiter also builds and sells its cars to other teams for various uses.
Racing history
FIA GT
In 2000, Reiter debuted its custom-built Diablo GT in the international FIA GT Championship, with backing from Lamborghini. The car was a variant of the Diablo GTRs used in the Lamborghini Supertrophy one-make series, adapted to better compete in FIA GT. Following a short 2000 season, Reiter managed to score their first points in 2001 with a fifth-place finish in the season finale.
A points-scoring finish would not come again for the Diablo GT until it was replaced by the newer Murciélago R-GT at the end of 2003. This new car would earn points on its debut in 2004, with a third place at Valencia. The following year, Reiter managed another point at its home round in Oschersleben.
Reiter managed to scure sponsorship funding in 2006, leading to the team name being changed to B-Racing RS-Line Team early in the season and the ability to run two cars, before changing to become All-Inkl.com Racing halfway through the year. The team managed three points-scoring finishes, with a best result of sixth in Brno.
2007 saw Reiter's greatest success as the team opened the year with their first victory, drivers Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mücke winning in Zhuhai. The two-car team managed to score points in six out of ten races that season, allowing the All-Inkl.com Racing squad to earn seventh in the Teams' Championship and Reiter Engineering tying for ninth.
FIA GT3
In 2006, the new FIA GT3 European Championship was launched. Reiter was developing and selling the smaller Lamborghini Gallardo for use in the new series. Reiter itself would run a three-car team, alongside customer team S-Berg Racing. The team managed a best finish of third at Mugello, and going on to finish eighth in the Team's Championship. Reiter driver Albert von Thurn und Taxis won the Lamborghini Manufacturers' Cup as well.
ADAC GT Masters
Following Reiter's success in FIA GT3, the team chose to move their Gallardos to the new ADAC GT Masters series in Germany. Using the same formula as FIA GT3, Reiter was able to improve on their results from the previous year. The team managed nine victories in the twelve race season, handily winning the Teams' Championship and winning the Drivers' Championship for Christopher Haase.
Racing cars
Since 2000, Reiter Engineering has been the main constructor of racing cars for Lamborghini. In that time, they have built and sold several different racing variants of Lamborghini models.
Diablo GT
Reiter's first car manufactured within the team, the Diablo GT was an attempt to bring Lamborghini's motorsports presence to the international stage, by adapting the supercar to comply with FIA GT regulations. Although other teams had previously attempted to adapt Diablo GTRs from the Lamborghini Supertrophy, the Diablo GT would be built just for FIA GT, allowing it to gain some performance advantages over its mass-produced siblings. The car retained several elements of the GTRs, including the lack of a four-wheel drive system.
Murciélago R-GT
The Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT is a racing version of the Murciélago, built by Reiter Engineering with development aid from Audi Sport. The R-GTs have been modified from their production versions, most notably by removing the four-wheel drive system to comply with FIA, ACO, and JAF regulations. The R-GT retains the standard Murciélago V12, but has air restrictors to manage the power output.
Murciélago R-GTs have been used by customer teams such as the Japanese Lamborghini Owners Club in the Super GT championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, DAMS in the FIA GT Championship, and Krohn-Barbour in the American Le Mans Series.
Murciélago LP670 R-SV
The Lamborghini Murciélago LP670 R-SV is a racing version of the Murciélago LP670 Super Veloce. Like its predecessor the Murciélago R-GT, the LP670 R-SV has been modified by Reiter Engineering to comply with FIA regulations. The R-SV was mainly built to run in the FIA GT1 World Championship.
Gallardo GT3
The Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 is a racing version of the production Gallardo, adapted to comply with the FIA's GT3 class category. Once again, the car's four-wheel drive system has been removed, and modifications made elsewhere to adapt the car for safety and performance.
Due to the car complying with GT3 regulations, it is able to race in a variety of national series as well as to run in the FIA GT3 European Championship. Several teams currently use the Gallardo GT3 in a multitude of championships. A total of 49 Gallardo GT3's have been built and are active worldwide. In 2009 the Macau Grand Prix was won by a Reiter Gallardo GT3.
Gallardo GT2
The Lamborghini Gallardo GT2 is a racing version of the freshly revised production Gallardo LP560-4, adapted to comply with the ACO's GT2 class category. Once again, the car's four-wheel drive system has been removed, and modifications made elsewhere to adapt the car for safety and performance.
Due to the car complying with GT2 regulations, it is able to race in a variety of national series as well as to run in the Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship, and the American Le Mans Series. The Gallardo GT2 is currently undergoing testing before racing the full 2009 Le Mans Series season.
Gallardo LP560 GT3
The Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3 is a racing version of the production Gallardo adapted to comply with the FIA's GT3 class category. Equal to its predecessor, the car's four-wheel drive system has been removed, and modifications made elsewhere to adapt the car for safety and performance. A lot of Murciélago's race know-how, and much more compared to the (old) Gallardo GT3 has been implemented into the LP560 GT3.
External links
- Reiter Engineering Official Site
- Reiter Engineering on Twitter
- Lamborghini Register - Murciélago R-GT