Upper Austrian driver celebrates again

Second European Championship title 25 years after victory against Hamilton

In 1999 Reinhard Kofler won ahead of Hamilton, now he triumphed with the KTM X-BOW GT2.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Gruppe C zVg)

In 1999, motorsport driver Reinhard Kofler was crowned karting champion ahead of Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton - now the KTM works driver from Attnang Puchheim was once again at the top of the podium in an international series and crowned himself European Champion with the 600 hp KTM X-BOW GT2.

It was 25 years ago! But Reinhard Kofler from Attnang-Puchheim holds this success in very, very high regard. After all, who can claim to have become European Karting Champion ahead of Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica? As a 14-year-old PS kid, however, Kofler achieved precisely this feat in 1999.

No premier class
While his rivals at the time later made it into the premier class of motorsport, the now 39-year-old "only" made it into the Formula BMW and Renault series and later into touring car and endurance racing. Now, 25 years after his first European Championship title, Kofler can call himself European Champion for the second time.

Kofler and his team colleague Martin Koch (l.) won the European GT2 Series.(Bild: Gruppe C)

600 hp car also available as a road version
Together with his MZR-Ried partner Martin Koch, the works driver triumphed in the KTM X-BOW GT2 in the Pro-Am class of the European Series. "It's an up-and-coming new class, with Mercedes, Audi and Maserati also competing. But the fact that I became European karting champion ahead of Lewis Hamilton is worth a bit more," laughs Kofler, who helped develop the 600 hp car, which is also available as a road version with 500 hp for just under 319,200 euros net, from the ground up as a test and development driver for KTM.