Rast began his motorsport career in karting and Formula BMW. He won the 2005 ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup and was runner-up in the 2006 Seat León Supercopa Germany. In 2007, Rast switched to sports car racing, where he found success with Porsche. He won the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany in 2008 and 2012, and the Porsche Supercup, claiming three championships from 2010 to 2012. Rast also competed in the ADAC GT Masters from 2010 to 2014, winning the title in 2014.
Rast ran the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring)) with a Paul Miller Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. In 2012, he won the GT class at the 24 Hours of Daytona, driving a Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with co-drivers Andy Lally, Richard Lietz and team owner John Potter. He 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 a 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 debuted in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) in 2016, driving an Audi RS5 and finishing sixth at Hockenheim II race 1. He 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.
Rast debuted in Formula E at the 2016 Berlin ePrix replacing António Félix da Costa at Team Aguri. He returned to Formula E for the final six races of the 2019-20 season in Berlin, replacing Daniel Abt at Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, where he scored a podium finish, crossing the line in third place. Rast drove for Audi as a permanent driver for the 2020-21 Formula E Championship, partnering Lucas di Grassi. He made his return to the series in the 2022–23 season driving for the McLaren Formula E Team, scoring one podium and finishing 13th in the standings before announcing his departure from McLaren.
This article is based on information from the Wikipedia article “René Rast”. No external sources were consulted.
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