The “ADAC 24h Qualifiers” marked the dress rehearsal for the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring for both True Racing by Reiter Engineering and Teichmann Racing. Both KTM teams used the event to collect final experience in racing conditions prior to the season highlight at the end of May.
Among others, one of the goals was to accelerate the development of the SPX version of the KTM X-BOW GT2. “We are still in the phase in which we are sorting out inconsistencies. This weekend, we were able to learn a lot once again,” said Reinhard Kofler, who, together with his teammates Tim Heinemann, Mads Siljehaug and Max Hofer finished in 13th place in the second race. “The result was of secondary importance. However, we know that a top 10 finish would have been within reach. In the closing stages of the race, we lost a few positions and we also had one more pit stop than most of the opponents at the front of the field,” Kofler pointed out.
The race on Sunday also included an involuntary test of the KTM X-BOW’s safety concept. In the turmoil of the opening stages, Johannes Stuck came off the track and hit the barriers. “I was very happy to start the race, and everything went according to plan until the end of the third lap. On the Döttinger Höhe, a situation occurred where I simply had to make a quick decision. The result was a relatively heavy impact into the crash barriers at the Antoniusbuche. I am grateful that the monococque of the KTM protected me from the forces of the impact. For the team, I am very sorry that the race was over so early", Stuck, who shared the #117 car with his brother Ferdinand and Markus Palttala, commented afterwards. The section of the track is among the fastest parts of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife with speeds around 250 km/h.
Customer team Teichmann Racing ran one KTM X-BOW GTX and one KTM X-BOW GT4. In the Sunday race, Tim Sandtler, Florian Wolf and Laura Kraihamer managed to consistently make up ground and scored a strong result in 21st place. Tim Sandtler in particular was happy with the result: “I haven’t been in a race car for almost three quarters of a year and nevertheless, I immediately felt at ease,” the 35-year-old said about his first race weekend with the KTM X-BOW GTX. “For us, it was primarily about racking up mileage and get used to each other. However, the conditions to do so weren’t that easy at all as the races had numerous challenges in store.”
Christian Volz, Andreas Tasche and Michael Mönch made considerable progress during the event. The trio in the KTM X-BOW GT4 with starting number 163 having ended up in 61st position in the first race, did even better in the second race. After a faultless performance, the three Teichmann Racing drivers crossed the finish line in 42nd place.
From 25 to 29 May, it will be shown whether the intense preparation by all the teams has paid off. Then, the Nürburgring 24-hour race is on as one of the world’s biggest and most popular motor races.