Rupert Atzberger and Reinhard Kofler won the first endurance race of the season

Rupert Atzberger and Reinhard Kofler won the first endurance race of the season

May 17, 2025 0 news , , ,

The Austrian duo Rupert Atzberger and Reinhard Kofler, representing the Austrian team MRZ Motorsportzentrum Ried and driving an Austrian car, the KTM X-BOW, dominated the Endurance race of the GT Cup Series at the Austrian Red Bull Ring. The winners of the GT3 class were Rudolf Beňo and Richard Gonda.

Rupert Atzberger started from pole position alongside Antal Zsigo in a BMW M4 GT3, with Rudolf Beňo, also in a BMW M4 GT3, third, and Gerhard Tweraser in a Lamborghini Huracán fourth.

Atzberger shot into the lead and held the first position comfortably; however, Antal Zsigo dropped back significantly and lost several positions. Rudolf Beňo moved up to second overall.

After nearly ten minutes of racing, the safety car was deployed due to a stranded sportscar in a dangerous position, bunching up the field before a restart. Another safety car phase occurred just before the halfway point when Richard Woschitz ended up in the gravel trap with his Porsche.

This coincided with the time for the mandatory pit stop, but the pit window was delayed due to the yellow flag. Drivers began heading to the pits two minutes after the halfway mark, with many teams opting for a driver change.

After the driver swaps, the final push to the checkered flag began. Mateusz Lisowski took over the Mercedes AMG GT3 from Piotr Wira and started setting fast lap times in pursuit of the GT3 class win. Although he crossed the line first in GT3, the team received a 78-second penalty for a pit stop infringement. As a result, the winners of the GT3 class were Rudolf Beňo and Richard Gonda in the BMW M4 GT3 from Aries Racing. They finished third overall, behind the dominant Atzberger and Kofler in the KTM X-BOW GT2 from the GTX class. Second overall was the crew of Alzen-Scheibner from the P9 Challenge Series.

Second place in the GTX class went to Jack Russel, teammate of Atzberger and Kofler from MRZ Motorsportzentrum Ried. Third was Christian Wimberger in a Lamborghini Huracán from the 78 Racing team.

The GTC winners were the reigning endurance champions Jakub Knoll and Josef Záruba, driving a Lamborghini Super Trofeo for Mičánek Motorsport. The GTC1 class was won by Bob Bau in a Porsche 991.

A well-contested GT4 class was won by the duo Primožič–Lodi from Lema Racing in a Mercedes AMG GT4. They finished 12 seconds ahead of the British green Aston Martin from Janík Motorsport, driven by Václav Janík and Jan Matyáš. Oleksandr Kosohov from GT Sports Technology team brought their Porsche Cayman GT4 home in third place.

Endurance, FIA CEZ D4D5, P9 – D5, SCC – Race