- A dominant SPX class victory together with a top ten finish up among the GT3 cars
The first real test in racing conditions for KTM’s GTX car was more than satisfactorily absolved at the Barcelona 24-hour race this weekend. Under the toughest of race conditions, the True Racing team under the direction of Reiter Engineering raced two KTM GTX cars. The car, which has been jointly developed by Reiter Engineering and KTM Sportcar GmbH in the record time of just eight months, withstood the strain of the 35C extreme temperatures and did it with flying colors. The #216 KTM GTX with KTM driver Laura Kraihamer, Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck, and Sehdi Sarmini at the wheel, withstood the 24 hours without a single problem and the quartet took an overwhelming victory in the SPX class. They finished with a 32-lap advantage over the second-placed Porsche to also pick up an impressive overall ninth-place finish, right in the middle of the field of GT3 cars.
For a long time, it looked as if the sister car with the number 217 could secure the double victory for True Racing, but during the night there was a chain of unfortunate circumstances after they made contact with another car. Tire pickup ended up in the engine compartment, more specifically in the V-belt drive, causing the V-belt to drop, damaging the engine. But it was possible to bring the car back to the pits where the team changed the engine in the absolute record time of 1 hour and 18 minutes, allowing the KTM GTX to rejoin the race. The team of drivers – Hubert Trunkenpolz, Klaus Angerhofer, Gerald Kiska, Artur Chwist and Sehdi Sarmini – then began a sensational effort to chase down the rest of the field, and still almost managed to finish on the SPX podium. There was just one lap missing at the end of the race between them and what could have been a perfect double podium.
KTM board member Hubert Trunkenpolz on the success of the test race and regarding future planning: “We are very satisfied with the performance and reliability of the KTM GTX. Our thanks go to Hans Reiter and his team, to all the employees of KTM Sportcar GmbH and the entire True Racing Team. We collected a lot of valuable data, and based on this, we will decide how we will proceed from here. In any case, there are several interesting options for a racing car based on the KTM GTX. I assume that we will be able to announce just what direction we will take with during this autumn at the latest.”