Shortly after its racetrack debut, the new KTM X-BOW GTX also achieved its first international success. Under direction of Japanese KTM X-BOW importer “KTM Cars Japan”, the “Syntium Apple” team took its first class win with the Austrian super sports car at the season opener of the Super Taikyu racing series.
In addition to the “Super GT” racing series, which is mainly held in a sprint format, the Super Taikyu series is Japan's most popular endurance racing series. It has been an integral part of the Japanese and Asian motorsport landscape since 1991, and top international teams as well as international drivers are frequent guests. It’s run on well-known Japanese race tracks such as Suzuka, Fuji, Motegi or Sugo, up to 80 teams are fighting for points and victories in different classes.
The "Syntium Apple" team is a fixture in Japanese racing and has been present in the top class "SuperGT" for many years. Since 2018, the team – directly connected to the official KTM X-BOW importer “KTM Cars Japan – was racing with a KTM X-BOW. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 they’ve been successful with the GT4 model, now the team made its debut with the new KTM X-BOW GTX. It was also the international racing premiere for the latest product of the KTM Sportcar GmbH which is built in Graz, Styria.
In the five-hour race at the TwinRing Motegi, the first race of the Super Taikyu season in 2021, the driver trio Kazuho Takahashi, Hiroki Katoh and Taiyou Iida not only secured pole position in the ST-1 class right behind the GT3 cars, but also a class victory and a ninth place overall in a very difficult race due to the pouring rain. It goes without saying the team was extremely happy, although they’re already preparing themselves for the second race of the season, which will take place on April 17th and 18th on the Sportsland Sugo race track.