After months of waiting, time has come for the X-BOW BATTLE to resume: The KTM one-make racing series will start at the Slovakiaring this weekend, doing the first of a total of three events of the 2020 season. The technical circuit near Bratislava, opened in 2009, is extremely demanding and will challenge the pilots on their first outing in 2020.
Organizer Georg Silbermayr can - despite all the adversities - look forward to a grid of approximately 20 cars, especially the entry-level series "X-BOW CUP EUROPE" with 12 pilots makes up a considerable part of this. “For quite a long time it wasn't even clear whether we could still drive this season”, said Silbermayr, who is now cooperating twice with the Austrian Histo Cup and once with the international GT-Open racing series at three events: “At the Slovakiaring, we are on the road with our friends from the Histo-Cup, it will definitely be a great weekend. The weather there is usually extremely hot at this time of year, but the weather forecast doesn’t rule out rain this time. In any case, it is certain that we will experience exciting races, we’re really looking forward to our season opener."
In the “Elite” class, the long-standing rivals “BOB BAU”, Josef Koller, Holger Baumgartner and Georg Silbermayr meet at the Slovakiaring, but newcomer Christian Schäfer will certainly not make it easy for the established drivers. In the GT4 class, Adam Galas is one of the favorites, he meets competition from the "razoon - more than racing" team, who were in the GT4 European Series last year and caused a sensation there with Önder Erdem.
The toughest duels are expected in the X-BOW CUP EUROPE: A number of experienced pilots will compete against motivated newcomers on identical KTM X-BOW R racing vehicles. Those who are already familiar with the one-make cup vehicles from previous years include the young German Leon Wassertheurer and the Austrian youngsters Jan Rihs, Mathias Pelzmann and Daniel Drexel. They will meet international newcomers hungry for victory: Rick Bouthoorn from Holland or Tamino Bergmeier from Germany, both successful kart drivers, want to challenge the established drivers. But there are more interesting entrants, some of whom are celebrating their racing premiere at the Slovakiaring: Christoph Schwarzlmüller, Stefan Grafenstetter, Thomas Brebeck and Thomas Schlack as well as Mathias's father, Klaus Pelzmann, who’s joining in for a real father-son duel that will add extra excitement to the two races at the Slovakiaring.