One of Australia’s most versatile and experienced drivers has been revealed as the new face of Radical Australia Cup, with former Supercars regular Karl Reindler fronting the popular one-make sportscar category as the new Motorsport Series Manager to help guide and build its future.
An important part of the operation of Radical Australia in recent years as a DSO [Driving Standards Observer], driver coach and part-time commentator for Radical Australia Cup – which is now in it’s tenth season – Reindler has been tasked with the revival of the category off the back of internal changes in both Radical UK and with their exclusive Australian distributors RA Motorsports.
“Over the last six months there have been some dynamic changes with Radical UK with changes to their rules and regulations, something which has been mirrored by Radical Australia Cup with the full-support from the factory,” Reindler explained. “That saw some big announcements over recent months of new suppliers, and some new management, but additionally it saw the consolidation of the various regional championships to bring them more closely into line with others around the world.
“Those changes have been taken on board in Australia, with RA Motorsports’ management taking a backward step from running the Cup after more than ten years pushing the category. That will allow for myself, Radical Event Manager Tahlia Neilson and Technical Officer Eden Simonini to initiate some new ideas for the Radical Australia Cup across the coming seasons, whilst Chris Papadopolous will continue to use his immense engineering expertise to manage the RA Motorsports factory team.”
A regular on the Supercar program in both the Development Series and the International Championship, Reindler also has extensive open-wheel experience as a former Australian Driver’s Champion (Formula 3) whilst having also represented Australia in A1GP, famously taking Team Australia to a podium in Beijing in 2006.
Moving to a support role in the Supercar endurance races in past seasons, Reindler also took up the reigns with the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as the Driver Development Manager working with a range of young talents through the emergence of Formula 4, making the 32-year old an ideal candidate for the redevelopment of Radical Australia Cup alongside his other existing commitments outside of the category.
“Karl’s role will be to provide separation and independence from the Radical Australia Cup [RAC] series management from the activities of RA Motorsport in their track support and race team management,” Greg Smith confirmed. “He will act as the independent face of RAC in dealing with all drivers, team managers, officials and Radical UK.”
As a hands-on member of the Radical team in recent years, Reindler is a convert to the Radical cause, and believes it is an platform for drivers looking to experience true motorsport at a competitive level, with everything they need at hand to assist in their development, from technical support all the way through to coaching.
“I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better category to get into motorsport at a professional level,” he admitted. “It’s cost-effective, it’s sexy, the races are run on some of the best circuits in the country, and for those that really want to go places, it’s an ideal platform to learn the basics, but further to that, with a global footprint, Radical provides it’s drivers with opportunities all over the world. What’s not to like!?!”
After a solid start at Bathurst in early February, the second event of the 2018 season is scheduled for the exciting new ‘The Bend’ motorsport complex in South Australia in mid-April.
