Reiter, KTM Developing Concept GT Car

Photo: Radio Show Limited Listeners’ Collective group (Facebook)

KTM and Reiter Engineering are currently developing a concept GT car which could form the basis of a future racing program. 

The two companies have built a test mule which was recently spotted testing at Imola (pictured above). The concept is based around an unusually small engine: a 2.5-liter 5-cylinder Audi powerplant.

The car’s proportions are larger than the KTM X-Bow GT4, both in width and length, while it also sports a completely new rear diffuser, rear wing and front-end aero.

“At the moment, it’s just a concept car,” Reiter Engineering founder and owner Hans Reiter explained to Sportscar365.

“KTM wants to find out whether this kind of concept has a future. If you look at modern GT cars, they all have V8 turbos, and this car has a five-cylinder turbo.

“We are now testing, running, and seeing what we can do with this concept.”

Multiple sources have indicated to Sportscar365 that KTM and Reiter are planning to build a car for SRO Motorsports Group’s new GT2 formula, adding to confirmed manufacturers Porsche and Audi.

Both companies, however, state that it’s too early to say if this new concept car could form the basis of a GT2 car, and that the direction they’ll take this concept is not yet decided.

They plan to continue testing the car, which has already completed 5,000 km, and make a decision on its future in October or November, according to Hans Reiter and Manfred Wolf, KTM’s head of PR / customer racing.

The testing program could include entering a version of the car in endurance races later this year.

“With the learning of those tests and maybe races we will decide in which direction we will go – free from any bias,” Wolf told Sportscar365.

“So it can be basically anything from sticking with our current car (GT4) to launching a complete new car for other racing classes.”

Currently, the car has been running with an output of around 400 horsepower from the Audi road car engine, although Reiter says they plan to “see what is possible with 600 or more horsepower”.

GT2 cars, which will sit between GT3 and GT4 in performance, are designed to produce around 700 hp.

“At the moment, definitely it would overshoot GT4 completely, but it’s not necessarily a GT2 car,” said Reiter.

“We are now testing it, seeing, and then hopefully in October or November we’ll make a decision for which championship it’s useful, for which kind of racing.“

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.