Wolfgang Reip

Wolfgang Reip
Born	(1986-10-01) October 1, 1986 Etterbeek, Belgium
Occupation	Professional racing driver
Years active	2010–2018

Wolfgang Reip (born 1 October 1986 in Etterbeek) is a professional racing driver from Belgium.

Early career

Reip started karting at the age of six, initially competing in local 4-stroke events before moving into 2-stroke karting by the time he was eleven. Financial constraints delayed his shift to car racing until 2010. That year, he achieved third place at the Pro Pulsion driving school competition held in Paris.

In 2012, Reip participated in the GT Academy contest—a partnership between Nissan and the creators of Gran Turismo—designed to identify emerging racing talent through online competitions. From a pool of 830,000 time trial entrants, he advanced to the final 36 candidates and took part in an intensive eight-day racing camp at Silverstone. He ultimately won the "GT Academy Race," earning the title of 2012 European GT Academy champion.

Career

Reip’s car racing debut occurred at the 2013 Dubai 24 Hour event in the SP3 category; however, his race was hampered by a loose wheel that necessitated repairs during the competition.

Throughout 2013, he competed with Team RJN in both the FIA GT Series and the Blancpain Endurance Series. In the FIA GT Series, Reip secured three podium finishes in class—two at the Slovakia Ring and one at Navarra—and concluded the season fifth in Pro-Am points. His Blancpain Endurance Series campaign included a podium at the 24 Hours of Spa, finishing tenth overall in the Pro-Am category.

Later that season, Reip made his LMP2 class debut at the 6 Hours of Bahrain with Greaves Motorsport, achieving fifth place overall and third within LMP2.

In 2014, Reip competed in both the Bathurst 12 Hour and the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. His Bathurst race ended prematurely due to a crash, while a gearbox malfunction forced an early retirement at Le Mans. Additionally, he raced in the British GT Championship, where he earned a runner-up finish at Spa.

Returning to Bathurst in 2015 alongside teammates Alex Buncombe and Katsumasa Chiyo, their team qualified third and secured a landmark victory after Chiyo overtook from third to first within the final ten minutes. Following this triumph, Reip re-entered the Blancpain Endurance Series with Buncombe and Chiyo. The trio won at Le Castellet and ultimately clinched the Blancpain Endurance Series championship by a narrow three-point margin at Nürburgring.

Despite this success, Nissan released Reip from their program early in 2016. Subsequently, he joined Bentley’s Team M-Sport to defend his Blancpain Endurance title. A third-place finish at Monza contributed to him finishing third overall during his final season competing in Blancpain.

After not racing during 2017, Reip made a singular return for the 2018 Spa round of the International GT Open, where he finished seventh in the first race.

In 2022, Reip disclosed that hearing difficulties experienced since 2014 were caused by severe Hyperacusis, which compelled him to retire from professional racing four years earlier.

Summary of Racing Career

Sources:

Season	Series	Team	Races	Victories	Pole Positions	Fastest Laps	Podium Finishes	Points	Final Standing
2013	Dutch GT4 Cup		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race	Nismo Global Athlete Program	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	6th
	Blancpain Endurance Series – Pro-Am	Nissan GT Academy Team RJN	5	0	0	0	1	36	10th
	FIA GT Series – Pro-Am		10	0	0	0	3	76	5th
	FIA World Endurance Championship – LMP2	Greaves Motorsport	1	0	0	0	1	15	21st
2014	Bathurst 12 Hour – A Class	Nismo Global Athlete Program	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	Protyre Formula Renault Championship	Fortec Motorsports	3	0	0	0	0	41	14th
	VLN Series – SP9 / Blancpain Endurance Series – Pro-Am / British GT Championship – GT3	Nissan GT Academy Team RJN	1 / 2 /5	0 / 0 /0	0 / 0 /0	0 / 0 /0	0 / 0 /1	0 /12 /18	NC /21st /27th
			Super GT – GT300	NDDP Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
			Bathurst 12 Hour – AA Class	Nismo Global Athlete Program	1	1	0	0	1	N/A	1st
	Blancpain Endurance Series	Nissan GT Academy Team RJN	5	1	1	2	2	62	1st
Renault Sport Trophy – Elite / Endurance	Monlau Competición	3 /2	0 /1	0 /0	0 /0	2 /1	45 /37	10th /8th
		Super GT – GT300	NDDP Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
Blancpain Endurance Series / Intercontinental GT Challenge	Bentley Team M-Sport	5 /1	0 /0	0 /0	0 /0	1 /1	59 /15	'3rd' /11th
		2018	align=left International GT Open	align=left Aston Martin Brussels Racing	2	0	0	0	0	4	37th

Full Results for the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Year	Team Name	Co-Drivers	Vehicle Model	Category Class	Completed Laps	Overall Finish Position	Class Finish Position
2014	Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showall Nismo Motorsports Global	Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Lucas Ordóñez Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showall Satoshi Motoyama	Nissan ZEOD RC	CDNT Class	5 laps completed	DNF (Did Not Finish)	DNF (Did Not Finish)