SONOMA, Cali., (August 9, 2020) – Marco Polo Motorsports put on a commanding performance this weekend in the GT4 America triple header race weekend at Sonoma Raceway. The No. 71 KTM X-BOW dominated the charts at the sports car racing event, seeing drivers Nicolai Elghanayan and Mads Siljehaug earn two pole positions and one race win at their home event.
“Winning at Sonoma Raceway was amazing,” said Elghanayan. “Mads and I did a great job keeping the car clean, having no contact or anything. The car worked perfectly, and as a result, we had a commanding lead and the fastest race lap. It was a great race and we hope to have more like it at the next rounds at Road America.”
The Laguna Beach, California team earned the pole positions for race one and two, and the KTM X-BOW dominated race one until mechanical issues with the electronic wastegate system robbed the team of their lead. They worked overnight to repair the issues, leading the field to green for a second attempt on Saturday morning. Better suited for the cooler temperatures than the previous afternoon, the KTM led every lap of race two, winning by 17 seconds.
The field faced warm temperatures for Sunday morning’s race three, which affected the performance of KTM sports car. Mads Siljehaug started the race in 21st and had an impressive opening run, gaining five positions in the first lap. He continued his charge up the field, facing stronger competition the further up the charts he climbed. By the time Nicolai Elghanayan took over, the KTM began to struggle in the heat, resulting in a 20th place finishing position.
“These are growing pains that are expected with a new car,” said Mads Siljehaug. “Despite the issues, the crew did an excellent job, and the car was unbeatable when everything ran well. We’ll work more on the car and come back stronger for Road America.”
The next round of the 2020 season will take place August 28-30 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The event will again feature a triple header for the SprintX championship in an effort to make up for previous race rounds that were canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. For all schedule updates and series information, visit www.gt4-america.com.
About Muellerized…KTM X-BOW Sales and Support
Muellerized Inc. is California’s KTM X-BOW Dealer, with multiple models including the new 2020 X-BOW Comp R in stock. The shop was founded as a suspension and chassis specialist shop in 2004 by third generation champion racer John Mueller, who utilizes his 36 years of road racing experience to craft winning solutions. Muellerized offers a full range of vehicle services for street, track day, and competition vehicles. – muellerized.com
About Kollin Altomare Architects
Beyond providing full-service architecture, interior design and planning services, we create elegant, inspired projects. Not only award-winning luxury hotels, resorts, spas, residential, retail, dining and leisure destinations, but enduring partnerships with the people who hire us. Driven to be Creatively Responsible and Responsibly Creative, we deliver design solutions that surpass the expectations of both our clients and their customers.
Craftsmen Industries
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KTM Sportcar GmbH
With headquarters in Graz (manufactory) and Wels (racing), KTM Sportcar GmbH is the manufacturer of KTMs super sports car, the X-BOW, since 2008. More than 1,300 vehicles have been sold since, distributed in more than 40 countries worldwide, amongst them markets like Australia, China or North America. With a maximum of 100 cars manufactured per hand per year, KTM is one of the most exclusive car manufacturers worldwide. Besides homologated models for street use, KTM is focused in racing, especially in spec racing series like the “X-BOW BATTLE” or in the SRO GT4 category. With titles in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, the KTM X-BOW GT4 (developed together with Reiter Engineering) is one of the most successful GT4 vehicles, racing against the biggest as well as most legendary sports car manufacturers in the world and on the most iconic tracks like Nürburgring, Bathurst or Spa-Francorchamps.
