A festival of GT racing for fans and drivers alike: The GT Celebration kicked off its new season at Sonoma Raceway with the first of seven races. The curtain-raiser at the circuit just north of San Francisco was all about the KTM X-BOW – for two good reasons. Nicolai Elghanayan secured a class win in his GT4 model, while the KTM X-BOW RR made its debut in California as the series’ official pace and safety car.
“The GT Celebration is a great platform for us and our cars,” said Michael Wölfling, Managing Director of KTM Sportcar GmbH. “We have closely monitored the series’ development and are delighted to be a part of it. Customer teams have already been successful here, so we take great pride in moving this partnership forward. It was a joy to see the KTM X-BOW RR make its debut as the pace car.”
Rob Morgan is also happy to see the partnership flourish: “It’s an honor to be linked with a global brand such as KTM,” the GT Celebration president said. “We had one driver compete with us last season in the KTM X-BOW which sparked a lot of interest. We then had a meeting with Michael last November and the conversation went from there. We look forward to seeing where this partnership may lead.”
The popularity of the Austrian sportscar in the US is practically all down to one man: Michael Kopper. The entrepreneur and racing driver entered a KTM X-BOW GTX in the series in 2021 and was also present at the first round of the 2022 season together with Team Chicago Performance and Tuning Co.
GT Celebration teams and drivers now have a long season of competition featuring six further race weekends, each comprising two races. Stop on the 2022 calendar include such prestigious tracks as Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway and the F1 circuit in Austin.