Yes, we see great potential in both cars. GT2 in general is a great format from our point of view – an alternative to GT3, which has become a class for professional drivers with factory backgrounds. It is definitely the best choice for semi PRO and AM racers. The cars are between GT3 and GT4 in terms of performance, but it is common for some drivers to be faster in GT2 than in GT3, simply because the car is more user-friendly.
You have also been racing with X-BOW GT4 since 2012, last year you completed a season in ADAC GT4 Germany and to this day you are the only Czech team that has managed to win a race in this championship. Have you already left this path?
X-BOW GT4 homologation ends this year, so we will not be developing this program further, but I do not rule out that we will use it in races at the Central European level, where it will be very competitive.
The second thing is the GT4 class itself. Everyone had huge hopes for it and it is undoubtedly great racing. But GT4s are based on civilian cars and as they get heavier, so do the racing derivatives. This goes against the DNA of our cars based on low weight and high cornering speed. To compensate for this, we were getting extremely unfavorable BoPs. We simply didn’t enjoy racing like that. So we will really focus on GT2 and racing with the “cup” GTX.
If we go back to Spain – in qualifying for the well-mannered GT Winter Series race in Valencia you were third or fourth, respectively, and in the race you were able to drive at the level of third position. How do you evaluate these results?
We arrived from Spain excited. Our main goal was to set up both cars, so we spent around fifty percent of our time looking for a setup. The results from the races confirmed that we are well prepared for the season. We have a car that is easy to handle, user-friendly and very fast at the same time. We were even faster on the straights than the GT3 cars. The race result was the icing on the cake for us and confirmation that we are capable of being competitive at the European level.
Do you already have the final cast for the 2023 season?
We want to drive the entire GT2 Series and are currently finalizing the names for the crews. Jan Krabec, who won the ADAC GT4 Germany at the Sachsenring four years ago with the X-BOW GT4, will most likely drive with us. Negotiations are underway with a second permanent driver, and there is also the option that Erik Janiš, who tests and coaches our drivers with us, would supplement Honza Krabec for some of the races. We definitely want to see it as a two-year project. We want to gain experience in the first season and put it to good use in the second. 
The second car you tested is the GTX, which you have been racing with since 2019. How are the GT2 and GTX different?
GTX is, let’s say, the basic level for current racing with KTM X-BOW. It is a car with a unique power-to-weight ratio and at the same time very good running costs. It is excellently controllable and playful, for me personally it is an absolutely great racing car. GT2 has a more powerful engine, but at the same time it has a hundred-kilogram BoP. The advantage of GT2 is undoubtedly that it has “its” championship. GTX is then a car for the GTC class.
Where do you plan to race with the GTX?
We will probably drive the ESET V4 Cup, where the GTX falls into the GTC class, its direct competitors will be the Lamborghini Huracán, the Ferrari “challenge” or the Porsche 992 cup. If we look at how foreign teams competing in endurance races are doing in this competition, we know that this is a car that can once again drive in the leading positions. We are also considering participating in the German GTC championship. In general, the GTX is an ideal car for entering the world of fast cars and we intend to open it up to a wide range of drivers who want to take a step forward while keeping costs at a reasonable level. 
RTR projects is also the official importer of KTM cars to the Czech Republic. How many X-BOWs of the current generation – i.e. in the GT2, GTX and road GT-XR versions – are there in the Czech Republic now?
We have two GT2s, with the second one being a backup car, but if we put together a second crew, we will also use it. In addition to our GTX, there are two other cars. One is newly owned by Janík Motorsport and we will probably also see it in the ESET V4 Cup, and the other is owned by Marek Rybníček, who confidently won his class in the Czech Hill Climb Championship with it last year. The street legal GT-XR model introduced last year should now arrive in the next few months. We have two cars on order and we have an option for five cars for 2023 and 2024. We already have buyers for four of them, and the fifth is still available for production exactly according to the client’s specifications.
Does the current focus on the X-BOW GTX/GT2 family mean a definitive departure from the original open Elite models?
Not at all. We still sell them, several more have been added to the Czech Republic last year, and their owners are very active. We provide them with complete service support, whether for street versions or for racing. These cars are absolutely timeless and I am convinced that they will be a unique opportunity for a long time to race at an amateur level with unrivaled low costs and at the same time be competitive. We have four X-BOW RR models in our team and countless other cars are owned by our customers, whom we meet regularly at races.
The magic of open models is that you can take them on the roads for a weekend, drive them through the Vysočina or go to the Alps. It is a unique car that will make the driver happy, inspire respect on the road and admiration wherever you stop.
