“I came here to learn, to see what the championship is like, and to try the car. After qualifying, I didn’t believe we could make it to the podium, so I’m really happy that it worked out in the end,” said Viktor Mráz after his first race in the GT2 European Series, just three weeks after his first test of the KTM X-BOW GT2 in the ESET Cup.
Mráz benefited from the experience and advice of Jan Krabec, the reigning GT2 European Series AM champion and last year’s double Monza race winner. Krabec was impressed by his new teammate’s performance. “Viktor did an unbelievably good job. It’s his first season with KTM, first GT2 race, first race at Monza. Achieving such a result is exceptional,” commented Jan Krabec.
The GT2 lineup had to contend with a significantly faster Monza track, thanks to a new surface. “The new surface has huge grip, it turns and brakes better. We’re two seconds faster than last year, we’re posting quicker times than the GT3 cars,” said Krabec. This was confirmed by team executive director Tomáš Fanta. “Qualifying times are three seconds faster than last year, and we were higher in the standings.”
The faster track posed a challenge for the team as well. With an average speed exceeding 190 km/h, fuel consumption increased, and the team had to prepare for the possibility of having to refuel during the pit stop. “We had to adapt and change the setup. In the end, the safety car saved us, as we drove a few laps slower. We had to make a tough decision about whether to risk not refueling, but it paid off,” explained Tomáš Fanta.
Viktor Mráz started the race and managed to navigate the first slow turn safely, avoiding any collisions. However, just three laps later, a crash involving a competing X-BOW GT2 from Razoon Racing brought out the safety car. Mráz had to deal with the restart but managed to create enough space to focus on the competitors ahead.
Mráz made his pit stop at the start of the pit window, allowing Krabec to take over. After a perfectly executed stop, Krabec rejoined the race in the lead. “We didn’t know how we were doing compared to the others, so I had to push straight away. I had space in front of me,” said Krabec. He managed to bring the KTM X-BOW GT2 to a third-place finish in the AM class. In the overall standings, RTR Projects finished fourth, with Krabec and Mráz being the fastest pairing from the Austrian brand.
The team aimed to follow up their strong performance with a similar result on Sunday, despite a five-second penalty on their pit stop. However, their chances of repeating the result were thwarted by another collision at the “cursed” first chicane. Klaus Angerhofer of True Racing made a mistake and collided with the right front of the RTR Projects X-BOW. While the offending driver continued the race, the RTR car was left unable to continue due to damage to the front suspension.
Despite the setback, the team had already shown its ability to get multiple drivers onto the podium this season. Alongside Jan Krabec, Maťo Homola and Petr Lisa have also secured podiums for RTR Projects, with Viktor Mráz now joining them. “It shows that we are compatible with a variety of drivers and can get them onto the podium. This gives us great strength in building our driver lineup for 2025,” said team leader Tomáš Fanta. “I want to thank the drivers for their great work, and I’m also proud of the team.”
