René Rast

René Rast (; born 26 October 1986) is a German professional racing driver.

A sports car racing specialist, Rast won the Porsche Supercup three years in a row (2010–2012) before forging a career with Audi. He won the 24 Hours of Spa in 2012 and 2014, the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2014 and the ADAC GT Masters in 2014. Rast later competed for Audi in LMP1, DTM and Formula E. He was DTM champion in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Rast was a confirmed driver for Audi's LMDh project at the time of its cancellation.

Rast then joined BMW in the FIA World Endurance Championship and DTM. Rast also made a one-year return to Formula E with McLaren in 2022–23. Rast retired from DTM in 2025 with 31 victories, the third most in the series' history behind Bernd Schneider (43) and Klaus Ludwig (37).

Career

Rast driving for Veltins MRS Racing in the 2009 Porsche Supercup at the Hungaroring.

After competing in karting and Formula BMW, Rast won the 2005 ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup and was runner-up at the 2006 Seat León Supercopa Germany.

In 2007, Rast switched to sports car racing, where he won Porsche Carrera Cup Germany in 2008 and 2012, and Porsche Supercup and claimed three championships from 2010 to 2012. Rast also competed at the ADAC GT Masters from 2010 to 2014, winning the title in his last year.

Rast ran the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring with a Paul Miller Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Rast won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona GT class, driving a Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with co-drivers Andy Lally, Richard Lietz and team owner John Potter.

Rast won the 2012 and 2014 24 Hours of Spa with a factory-supported Audi R8 LMS with teams Phoenix and WRT respectively.

In the 2013 FIA GT Series, Rast claimed a win and five podiums with an WRT Audi R8. In the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series, he claimed a win and three podiums. In 2016, he got three podiums.

Rast debuted at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Sébastien Loeb Racing Oreca-Nissan, finishing fourth in the LMP2 class. In 2015, he competed at two rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship with a factory Audi R18 e-tron quattro, finishing fourth overall at the 6 Hours of Spa and seventh at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2016, he raced full-time for G-Drive with an Oreca-Nissan LMP2, claiming a win at Bahrain and a second place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two third-place finishes at Silverstone and Austin.

Rast competed in two rounds of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with an Audi RS5, finishing sixth at Hockenheim II race 1.

Rast won the 2017 DTM title in his first full year driving an Audi RS5 for Team Rosberg. After taking a record-breaking six consecutive race victories the following year, he missed out on a repeat title by only four points. Rast won the 2019 DTM Championship and scored his third series title the following season.

Formula E

Rast debuted in Formula E at the 2016 Berlin ePrix replacing António Félix da Costa (who had a DTM commitment) at Team Aguri.

Rast returned to Formula E for the final six races of the 2019-20 season in Berlin, replacing the sacked Daniel Abt at Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler. He managed to score a podium finish in the fifth race where he crossed the line in third place. Rast drove for Audi as a permanent driver for the 2020-21 Formula E Championship, partnering Lucas di Grassi.

Rast did not compete in the 2021–22 Formula E World Championship.

Rast made his return to the series in the 2022–23 season driving for the McLaren Formula E Team. He scored one podium throughout the season, and ended 13th in the standings. Rast announced his departure from McLaren following the season.

Racing record

Career summary † As Rast was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. Season still in progress.

Complete Porsche Supercup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 DC Points 2007 Veltins MRS Racing BHR BHR CAT MON MAG SIL NÜR HUN IST SPA MNZ NC‡ 0‡ 2008 Veltins MRS Racing BHR BHR CAT IST MON MAG SIL HOC HUN VAL SPA MNZ 6th 95 2009 Veltins MRS Racing BHR BHR CAT MON IST SIL NÜR HUN VAL SPA MNZ YMC YMC 2nd 207 2010 Al Faisal Lechner Racing BHR BHR CAT MON VAL SIL HOC HUN SPA MNZ 1st 152 2011 Veltins Lechner Racing IST CAT MON NÜR SIL NÜR HUN SPA MNZ YMC YMC 1st 181 2012 Lechner Racing BHR BHR MON VAL SIL HOC HUN HUN SPA MNZ 1st 142 † Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. ‡ As Rast was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2012 Audi Sport Performance Team Frank Stippler Andrea Piccini Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3Pro 509 1st 1st 2013 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Stéphane Ortelli Laurens Vanthoor Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro 79 DNF DNF 2014 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Laurens Vanthoor Markus Winkelhock Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro 527 1st 1st 2015 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Laurens Vanthoor Markus Winkelhock Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro 508 21st 11th 2016 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Nico Müller Laurens Vanthoor Audi R8 LMS Pro 531 3rd 3rd 2017 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Antonio Garcia Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Pro 546 6th 6th 2018 Audi Sport Team WRT Robin Frijns Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Pro 509 8th 8th 2019 Audi Sport Team WRT Robin Frijns Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Pro 358 23rd 20th 2025 Team WRT Valentino Rossi Kevin Magnussen BMW M4 GT3 Evo Pro 548 11th 10th

Complete FIA GT Series results Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Points 2013 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro NOGQR NOGCR ZOLQR ZOLCR ZANQR ZANCR SVKQR SVKCR NAVQR NAVCR BAKQR BAKCR 6th 80

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results † As Rast was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2014 Sébastien Loeb Racing Jan Charouz Vincent Capillaire Oreca 03R-Nissan LMP2 354 8th 4th 2015 Audi Sport Team Joest Marco Bonanomi Filipe Albuquerque Audi R18 e-tron quattro LMP1 387 7th 7th 2016 G-Drive Racing Roman Rusinov Will Stevens Oreca 05-Nissan LMP2 357 6th 2nd 2022 WRT Robin Frijns Sean Gelael Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 285 DNF DNF 2023 Tower Motorsports Ricky Taylor Steven Thomas Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 19 DNF DNF LMP2 Pro-Am 2024 BMW M Team WRT Robin Frijns Sheldon van der Linde BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar 96 2025 BMW M Team WRT Robin Frijns Sheldon van der Linde BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar 375 17th 17th 2026 BMW M Team WRT Robin Frijns Sheldon van der Linde BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar 381 2nd 2ndSource:

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results † Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. Season still in progress.

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points 2014 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra Pro NOGQR NOGCR BRHQR BRHCR ZANQR ZANCR SVKQR SVKCR ALGQR ALGCR ZOLQR ZOLCR BAKQR BAKCR 5th 71 2016 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Pro MISQR MISCR BRHQR BRHCR NÜRQR NÜRCR HUNQR HUNCR CATQR CATCR 9th 39

Complete Formula E results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points 2016 Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 DTM HOC1 HOC2 SPL1 SPL2 LAU1 LAU2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 MSC1 MSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HUN1 HUN2 23rd 8 Audi Sport Team Phoenix HOC1 HOC2 2017 Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 DTM HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 HUN1 HUN2 NOR1 NOR2 MSC1 MSC2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SPL1 SPL2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 179 2018 Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 DTM HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 HUN1 HUN2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 BRH1 BRH2 MIS1 MIS2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SPL1 SPL2 HOC1 HOC2 2nd 251 2019 Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 Turbo DTM HOC1 HOC2 ZOL1 ZOL2 MIS1 MIS2 NOR1 NOR2 ASS1 ASS2 BRH1 BRH2 LAU1 LAU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 322 2020 Audi Sport Team Rosberg Audi RS5 Turbo DTM SPA1 SPA2 LAU1 LAU2 LAU1 LAU2 ASS1 ASS2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ZOL1 ZOL2 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 353 2022 Team Abt Audi R8 LMS Evo II ALG1 ALG2 LAU1 LAU2 IMO1 IMO2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SPA1 SPA2 RBR1 RBR2 HOC1 HOC2 3rd 149 2023 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 OSC1 OSC2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 LAU1 LAU2 SAC1 SAC2 RBR1 RBR2 HOC1 HOC2 5th 140 2024 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 OSC1 OSC2 LAU1 LAU2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAC1 SAC2 RBR1 RBR2 HOC1 HOC2 4th 172 2025 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo OSC1 OSC2 LAU1 LAU2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAC1 SAC2 RBR1 RBR2 HOC1 HOC2 6th 169 † Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.