The goal of team boss Hans Reiter for the KTM X-BOW GTX prototype at the 12-hour race of the Creventic series in Monza was clear: collect kilometers, collect data, and – if possible – win the GTX classification. After the split race – four hours were completed on Friday, eight hours on Saturday – the analysis is extremely divided: Apart from the fact, that a lot of experience and a lot of data had been be collected, the team shone in the Valvoline KTM X-BOW GTX with a sensational win of the first part of the race on Friday, but on the other hand couldn’t take a class win due to technical problems on Saturday.
In training and qualifying, the expected distance to the favored GT3 vehicles due to the BoP was as planned. A reduced boost pressure according to Creventic specifications only allowed 450 HP peak performance (instead of around 500). Team boss Hans Reiter: “The fact that we lack top performance is not even that dramatic. Unfortunately, we lose a lot of torque in the lower engine speed range, which is a disadvantage especially here in Monza when accelerating out of the chicanes.” During the first part of the race, the driver trio with KTM works driver Laura Kraihamer, ADAC GT4 Germany title holder Eike Angermayr and Ex-professional Stefan Rosina shines thanks to great consistency in the lap times and the perfect pit stop strategy by team Reiter Engineering: And so it happened, that the KTM X-BOW GTX prototype led with over 1:40 minutes on the second-placed Porsche 911 GT3 and a lap lead over the third-place finisher (also Porsche 911 GT3) after four hours – a total of no less than seven GT3 vehicles and the rest of the field had been left behind!
It was clear that Saturday would not continue like this, even if one could secretly hope for luck and a podium finish. The fact that things turned out very differently was the responsibility of the standard alternator on the 2.5 liter Audi five-cylinder turbo engine, as Hans Reiter explains: “Our prototype racing appearances are used for testing of course, so unfortunately something can go wrong there. After all, we now know that the series alternator is not durable in racing, especially on tracks like Monza, where the curbs are driven extremely hard. We replaced the alternator, but had to make extremely complex modifications due to the encapsulation of the belt drive which is not yet finalized. Nevertheless, I think we were able to demonstrate the potential of the KTM X-BOW GTX in an impressive manner.” As proof, Laura Kraihamer drove the fastest lap of the KTM X-BOW GTX at 1: 52.282 towards the end of the 12-hour race, after the repair break. Another proof of what would have been possible without the "electric gremlin".