If anyone’s experienced the highs and lows of GT racing recently, it’s Patric Niederhauser and his Rutronik Racing team.
Last year, using the tried-and-tested Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) while being paired with Sven Müller and Alessio Picariello, driver and team secured GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup honours. This run included a brilliant second at the Spa 24 Hours following a titanic battle with the #63 GRT – Grasser Racing Team.
For 2026, the German outfit joined GRT in running Lamborghini machinery, this time the new Temerario GT3. It’s been a difficult birth to say the least.
Amongst a myriad of issues has been problems under braking as well as the car being unresponsive on turn-in.
Despite the tough opening to the season, Niederhauser and his #96 teammate Luca Engstler managed to score a brace of Sprint Cup podiums in recent rounds, showing the car’s progress.
The Swiss says this light at the end of the tunnel means his Rutronik team is “super motivated” to move on to even better things next year – but it’s been a rough ride to even get this far.
“For the team, even more than the drivers, it’s been very challenging, especially at the beginning [of 2026],” he tells DSC.
“Everything has been a bit delayed, and therefore we couldn’t really run much prior to the season.
“The first couple of races were basically tests for us. Whereas normally you would go pre-season testing to make your [set-up] baseline, then you arrive at the track and do your usual small adaptations, we went through the first four, five, six races making changes, session to session, just to gather as much info about the car.
“Magny-Cours was the first race where we could have a normal weekend [eventually resulting in a podium].
“We can isolate main topics on the car now, we just need to focus and try to find a way to improve those things.”
Niederhauser says he saw the team at some of its lowest moments, but that this is where the real fortitude was shown.
“One of the biggest challenges is to keep the morale up,” he admits
“Even though the guys are putting so much work in, I think at the beginning it was a bit tough for them, because we arrived from a car [the 911] which is very well developed.
“Everyone had to work twice as hard than usual, and the results weren’t quite there.
“But towards mid-season after Spa, we started to make some progress. We could finally do our first podium, and that was certainly a big, big boost for the morale team.”
Despite these recent positive results, the Temerario has still had its issues, with limited running in the first paid test session of the weekend in Portimao. Things improved from there with the car qualifying 17th for the final race of the season.
“Mechanical grip, especially medium-speed corners, is where we probably need to find a bit, as well as in high speed,” Niederhauser admits.
“We obviously got the help with the extra aero on the rear, which is out of homologation. For the coming year, we hope to find a way to drive within the homologation again, so that will be another new challenge.
“When I first drove the Temerario, it was actually relatively easy to drive. Let’s say it feels a lot more natural to drive than a 911, which has weight on the rear and the fuel tank in the front.
“Lamborghini has focused on the drivability, especially for gentleman drivers. Where we need to improve our car mostly is the medium to high speed corners, not from aero, but clearly the platform.”
After a trying year, Niederhauser’s future is unclear. What does one of last year’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup champions want to do?
“I hope to continue with Rutronik, keep the momentum with the car, with Lamborghini, with the team, continue making small steps. If we keep working like that, I’m convinced we will be more regularly up front in the top 10, where the team belongs.
“We’re already fully focused on next year. Everybody’s super motivated, and I think that speaks for the team as well. Even though things are a bit more difficult than in the past, they never gave up and kept pushing.”
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
