Patric Niederhauser: "It's time to win Spa!

Patric Niederhauser, 30, made his mark in GT racing to become an Audi Sport customer racing driver. The Swiss driver's career changed in 2016 when he joined Attempto Racing on a dual Sprint and Endurance programme in the Blancpain GT Series. Since then, GT racing has been the Müsingen native's background. 

After some races with Mercedes and GruppeM Racing in Asia, he was back in a Lamborghini Gallardo entered by Reiter Engineering in 2018. The following year, he was involved in all the GT3 campaigns in Asia and Europe, culminating in the ADAC GT Masters title in an Audi R8 LMS GT3/HCB-Rutronik Racing. From then on, Patric Niederhauser's destiny was linked to Audi. Discreet and hard-working, the Swiss driver is the perfect teammate.

This season, Patric Niederhauser is racing in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe with Saintéloc Racing and the ADAC GT Masters with Rutronik Racing. 

Prior to the Misano Sprint meeting, the Saintéloc Racing driver was ranked 8th in the combined Sprint and Endurance championship. "I am very happy to be able to fight for the championship at Saintéloc Racing," Patric Niederhauser told Endurance-Info. "The package is very good even though we dropped some points in the Endurance race at Paul Ricard due to a puncture. The Audi is still there against the competition." Unfortunately for the Panis/Niederhauser pairing, the Italian meeting was a DNF on both races. 

The former GP3 Series driver with Jenzer Motorsport and Arden International has found his place with Audi and Saintéloc Racing: "Audi is like a family to me and I'm delighted to be driving for Saintéloc, with whom I won the Intercontinental GT Challenge round in Indianapolis in 2021. To run a double programme with them this year is really good for me. It's the first time I've driven full-time for a French team, so I have to adapt to the language (laughs)." 

After Misano, it's time to think about the 24 Hours of Spa where Niederhauser makes common cause with Lucas Légeret and Christopher Mies in the #25 Audi. The trio will be among the crews to watch for the win. "It's time to win Spa", smiles the Swiss. "This race is so difficult that we can't predict anything. We have the right package, but converting it is another story. At Spa, you need luck to win and I expect a lot from this race. The 24 Hours of Spa remains one of the biggest GT races in the world, if not the biggest." 

Patric Niederhauser is coming off a fourth place finish at the 24H Nürburgring for Audi Sport Team Car Collection. "You can't compare the two 24-hour races," says the driver of the #25. "The two races are the opposite of each other. The Nürburgring is completely crazy with a very long circuit and big speed gaps. At Spa there are 66 GT3s in one class. You can't find that anywhere else."

With time, one would almost have forgotten that Patric Niederhauser counts one participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013 in an Oreca 03 entered by Race Performance together with Michel Frey and Jeroen Bleekemolen : "I hope to return to Le Mans one day because this race is incredible. There is the race but also everything around it. My only experience was in a prototype and I have very good memories of that..."