It couldn’t have been any better for True Racing by Reiter Engineering: in the Fanatec GT2 European Series round at the Red Bull Ring, the team scored the first season victory with the KTM X-BOW GT2. In qualifying, the eventual winners Stefan Rosina and Filip Sladecka already gave an indication of their potential with fastest lap times. Further podium results in the Pro-am and the Am classification of the series completed the success. Meanwhile, in ADAC GT4 Germany, also racing in Styria, the two KTM customer teams RTR Projects and razoon – more than racing delivered a strong performance.
“What a weekend! Two pole positions and then a lights-to-flag win on top, just crazy! Keeping the opposition at bay all the time wasn’t that easy at all, but we succeeded,” Stefan Rosina delighted after the race on Saturday. For the Slovakian, it was already his second win in the international GT series. In 2021, he had secured the maiden win for the KTM X-BOW GT2 at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
While the Rosina/Sladecka duo missed out on another podium result in the second race on Sunday, Reinhard Kofler and Horst Felbermayr Jr again made it onto the podium of the Pro-Am class. “That was a super experience for me, the car was extremely great to drive,” Felbermayr said about his first weekend of racing in the GT2 field. “I am particularly happy with our progress. After third place on Saturday, we were able to improve further and came second. Unfortunately, I had understeer at the end and was unable to maintain the lead that Reini had established.”
There was also reason to celebrate in the Am classification thanks to Klaus Angerhofer and Hubert Trunkenpolz. Both on Saturday and on Sunday, the two drove a faultless race and finished in third and second place respectively. “Podium results in both races, victory yesterday and two clean, extremely thrilling races: from a KTM perspective, we can go home with our heads held high. It was a great home race for the brand in front of an impressive crowd,” Trunkenpolz summed up.
The 25,000 fans on site got their money’s worth, not in the least thanks to the action in ADAC GT4 Germany in which customer teams with the KTM X-BOW GT4 EVO were on the grid as well in RTR Projects and razoon – more than racing. “We came here with realistic expectations. Both Daniel Drexel and Horst Felix Felbermayr drove their first-ever races in GT4 Germany here at Red Bull Ring, so one has to remain realistic. The field has never been any stronger than this year,” said team principal Dominik Olbert, whose Razoon team is based close to the track.
The surprise on Sunday evening was all the bigger as Drexel and Felbermayr finished the race in twelfth place overall, classified fourth in the Junior ranking. In spite of numerous collisions in the field, the two drivers kept their cool and made it to the finish without any damage as a result.
The RTR Projects team was also strong: “We have seen considerable progress for our young drivers. The intense work is paying off,” team principal Eva Beníšková pointed out. Matěj Pavlíček and Josef Knopp underlined the upward trend as they finished in a sensational eighth place overall in the second race. However, a post-race time penalty saw the two drop back to 13th. As a result, the young drivers from the Czech Republic ended up behind their fellow KTM drivers from razoon – more than racing in fifth place of the Junior ranking.