Strong drivers in a strong car: True Racing has announced its driver line-up for selected rounds of the Nürburgring Endurance Series ahead of the season opener at the weekend. The highlight of the two-car KTM X-BOW GT2 programme will undoubtedly be the Nürburgring 24 Hours in May. For KTM, the Green Hell is an important place both for car development and for the customer racing programme focusing on the KTM X-BOW. The team from Teichmann Racing have a key role to play, too, with three cars planned for the season curtain-raiser.
The True Racing quartet of Reinhard Kofler, Mads Siljehaug, Max Hofer and Tim Heinemann is a perfect mix of experience and talent. The foursome will be handling driving duties on the #53 car. Meanwhile, the #52 machine will be piloted by Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck, ably assisted by endurance ace Markus Palttala and, in selected races, by stalwart Christian Menzel.
Last week’s testing at the Nürburgring gave the drivers their first chance to prepare for the first round of the season. “Our top priority at this early stage of the season is to get some miles under our belts and gather some experience with the car,” explains Ferdinand Stuck. “We know where the car’s strengths lie on the Nordschleife, but we have a new driver line-up to contend with, which will demand a great deal of set-up work.”
The Nürburgring-Nordschleife is arguably the most challenging racetrack in the whole world and has long since acted as a proving ground for new technology. The SPX kit, which enhances the performance of the KTM X-BOW GT2 – including by adding downforce – will be available to customer teams from May.
Tim Heinemann, who will be competing in a KTM X-BOW GT2 for the first time, is looking forward to the new season. “I am delighted to be part of such a professional team with a brilliant driver line-up,” said the former DTM Trophy champion. “One of the main benefits of the car is its low tyre wear, which should enable us to stay consistent over long periods of time and offer good driveability.”
Teichmann Racing is also part of KTM’s Nordschleife plans. The customer team has been entering KTM machinery in the Nürburgring Endurance Series and at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for many years now. Georg Teichmann is set to continue that tradition in 2022, too, with two KTM X-BOW GTXs and a pair of top-quality driver line-ups.
The #920 car will be driven by Georg Griesemann, Maik Rönnefarth and Yves Volte, together with YouTube star Felix von der Laden, who first demonstrated his considerable skills behind the wheel of a KTM X-BOW GTX in 2021. In the #927 machine, Constantin Schöll, Stephan Brodmerkel, and alternately Hendrik Still and Laura Kraihamer, will be taking their place behind the wheel. Many of the drivers will be stepping up from GT4 racing to the higher-performance GTX version.
The first race of the year begins on Saturday, 26 March at 12:00 and will be broadcast live on the official website.
Our driver pairings for NLS1:
True Racing
KTM X-BOW GT2 #52: F. Stuck, J. Stuck, M. Palttala
KTM X-BOW GT2 #53: R. Kofler, M. Siljehaug, M. Hofer, T. Heinemann
Teichmann Racing
KTM X-BOW GT4 #912: L. Drost, A. Simon
KTM X-BOW GTX #920: G. Griesemann, F. von der Laden, M. Rönnefarth, Y. Volte
KTM X-BOW GTX #927: S. Brodmerkel, H. Still, C. Schöll