Richert preps for return to European circuit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/09/2020 (1780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last March, just two days before Niverville native David Richert was set to depart for Barcelona, Spain, to race in the Ultimate Cup Series in Europe, all those plans, training and preparations were suddenly derailed as the world ground to a halt to fight the pandemic.

He was scheduled to drive a Formula Renault 2.0 race car for Interpol Europol Competition, a Polish owned racing team that Richert had previously driven for.

Richert’s racing career that has taken him around the world for more than a decade have been documented many times in these pages over the years. A career that began in 2002, shortly after high school, when he began racing karts in the Manitoba Karting Association.

With all the downtime this summer, Richert went back to his racing roots, purchased a used, “but very quick” Rotax DD2 kart and raced in a couple of events at the kart track in Gimli.

He said, “It was a good way to keep his skills sharp while waiting for international travel to open up once again.”

“It was a lot of fun to be back driving karts and 120 km/h still feels quick when your seat is just 1 cm off the ground, plus it’s an excellent way to work on fitness training.”

“I have driven about 10 different kinds of race cars over my career,” Richert said in an interview with The Carillon this week,” but none of them have been as physically demanding as racing a go-kart.”

Although the Ultimate Cup Series resumed some of their races in July, Richert is planning to join the series for the weekend event Sept. 24-27 at Magny-Cours in France. He plans to race in five events, including two in France, one in Spain and two in Portugal, stretching into mid-December.

For Richert, his biggest challenge in furthering his racing career is always about raising sponsorship money. Because with so many of these race teams there is a cost to race with them in the sense that if you crash you are responsible to pay for damages to the car.

Richert says ultimately his goal in returning to Inter Europol Competition this year, which is a race team he has been with off and on since 2014, is to post some solid results and raise his profile both in Europe and back here in North America.

“I have been fortunate to experience time in several cars within Inter Europol Competition’s stable, including a Formula Renault 2.0, GP2 and LMP3 cars.”

But Inter Europol Competition also has a car entered in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, which is being held Sept. 18 & 19 this year. Richert’s goal is to land a seat with the team for next year’s race as they will employ three or four drivers for the 24-hour non-stop marathon, considered one of the most prestigious events in the world.

“I am now keying in on Le Mans,” said Richert, “where you will be driving at night at speeds of up to 330 km/h.”