René Rast has enjoyed a glittering career in motorsport, winning three DTM titles and the 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
The German driver is competing in Formula E this season for NEOM McLaren alongside Jake Hughes.
The British team have endured a tricky season and sit 7th in the Teams’ Championship but they have a driver line up with vast experience in Formula E and other categories.
Rast started his full-time Formula E career in the 2020-21 season for Audi Sport after part-time appearances for the German company and Team Aguri. The 36-year-old partnered the 2016-17 series champion Lucas Di Grassi during that campaign.
PitDebrief.com caught up with Rast during the race weekend in Jakarta to discuss how beneficial his partnership with Di Grassi was, as well as driving alongside rookie Jake Hughes in 2023.
“I was very privileged to have Lucas (Di Grassi) as my teammate, he is a Formula E world champion, he won the championship once and a very quick driver so I was very lucky to have him on my side.
“I could learn a lot from him and for sure that gave me a jump start into the new Formula E season back in that time.
“But also now with Jake (Hughes) we have a very good relationship, very healthy I would call it and we have a very good exchange between each other and that’s what we need for the team to move forward.”
The McLaren driver, like many of his peers started racing in karting and Rast won the German ICA Junior Kart Cup in 2002.
He was born in Minden, West Germany and became totally fixated on the pursuit of speed on a vast array of vehicles such as cars and quadbikes.
The German delved into his love of speed and competition in his younger days: “I just love the speed, I was always fascinated by speed when I was a kid.
“I was always trying to go flat out on motobikes, quads and cars so I just love the speed and it’s still the case.
“I just love speed and that’s what was fascinating me all the time. At one point also the competition came as a factor.
“I also like to compete, I cannot lose so I always want to win and be the best so those two elements of always wanting to win and loving speed is a good combination.”
Rast has worked well alongside Hughes this season and the pair have scored a multitude of top five finishes including a podium in Saudi Arabia for the German.
Formula E is an ultra competitive series that has plenty of former Formula 1 drivers on the grid.
Hughes is making his debut in the championship this season and Rast explained their good work ethic is helping the pair to settle into McLaren and push the team up the order.
“The good thing is that Jake knows the team already for many years so he was comfortable already in the team and could help me a little bit more getting comfortable because I didn’t know anybody.
“So for me it took a bit more time, with Jake’s help it speeded up a bit so he helped me a lot to find my place in the team and as a team mate he’s a very good one. He’s very quick, very fast, working hard.
“There’s no rivalry between us we just want to push the team forward as much as we can and fighting within the team is the worst thing that can happen.
“As I said it’s a very healthy relationship between each other and I’m sure sure it will stay like that for the rest of the season.”
Rast has enjoyed success in multiple different categories with three DTM titles and two victories in the LMP2 class in WEC last season at Spa and Bahrain.
The 36-year-old explained to Pit Debrief that his experience across a range of cars can help to develop the car and provide important feedback to the team.
“In terms of driving there’s not much I could take over from DTM or prototype racing. It’s more about experience and how to deal with situations and how to learn quicker because of the experience I have with the different cars, with different tyres.
“I can contribute quite a lot of my past experience and let the team know how the tyres of how the car feels and what direction we need to go for improving it.”
Photo credit: NEOM McLaren
Rast will be hoping for a class victory this weekend in LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Tower Motorsports alongside Ricky Taylor and Steven Thomas, as he looks to add to his large collection of motorsport accolades.
