Brett Sandberg is GTS Champion in Pirelli World Challenge 2016, Vice Championship for ANSA Motorsports in Team Standings.
It has been an extremely successful debut season for the Reiter Engineering developed KTM X-BOW GT4 in the Pirelli World Challenge 2016. Five chassis had been delieverd to customer teams ANSA Motorsport (Florida / USA) and Mantella Autosport (Ontario / Canada) to race them in the GTS class.
Right from the start of the season the KTM X-BOW GT4 had been competitive within the strong GTS field of the Pirelli World Challenge. Brett Sandberg could catch Pole Position and victory already at the first event at the Circuit of the Americas in March. It couldn´t have been a stronger start for the KTM X-BOW GT4 and the season should continue in a similar manor.
The customer teams ANSA Motorsport and Mantella Autosport collected no fewer than 12 Pole Positions, 17 Podium finishes and 5 wins in the Pirelli World Challenge 2016. Most successful driver should be Brett Sandberg with 3 of the 5 victories and most of the Pole Positions. The 27-year old from Allerdale took over the championship lead in July after his second win at Road America and fought for the title in the following races. Sandberg could win the Championship in the penultimate race at Laguna Seca with a third place finish. “What an incredible 2016 season with Ansa Motorsports and Reiter Enginnering in our new KTM XBow. It was truly a joint effort by everyone involved and I can’t say enough about the support from overseas” said Champion Brett Sandberg. “It was difficult to adapt to the new car and the constant changes but it was certainly a learning curve that everyone was able to adapt too. Alain did an incredible job working with the series and with Reiter trying to give us the best possible car every weekend and it certainly paid dividends. And cannot wait to continue this relationship and hopefully play a role with Reiter’s involvement overseas!”
Sandbergs KTM X-BOW GT4 had been maintained by ANSA Motorsports, who could win the Vice Championship title in the team standings. The crew of Alain Nadal raced three cars throughout the season with Sandberg the only permanent driver in every race. Dore Chaponick Jr, Hugh Plumb, Bill Ziegler and Jason Wolfe had several outings in the ANSA Motorsport cars too.
“In 2015 we made our GT debut in the Pirelli World Challenge,” Alain Nadal, ANSA Motorsports co-team owner said. “By mid-2015 season we were looking at car options to compete in the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS championship. After talking with Reiter Engineering KTM executives, my partner, Patrick Otto Madsen and myself decided to buy our first KTM X-Bow GT4. We knew it was a challenge because no one knew of the racecar in north America but we also knew that the car had a potential to be a championship contender and we took the gamble.”
“After scoring 10 pole positions, winning 3 races and scoring a total of 11 podiums, we are happy that we selected KTM as a racing partner for 2016. We want to thank Reiter Engineering and KTM for all the support they provided all season. It was a challenging year especially with the Balance of Performance but with three cars entered for Brett Sandberg, Bill Ziegler and Dore Chaponick Jr., we managed to do a great job. Our crew adapted quickly to the KTM racecar and found out that it was a very easy car to maintain.”
“Now that we won the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Driver’s Championship with Sandberg and finished second in the PWC GTS Team’s Championship, we want more and we are looking forward to return in 2017 with a minimum of three KTM X-Bows and new drivers.”
Mantella Autosport concentrated on two KTM X-BOW GT4 with Martin Barkey in the #88 and team owner Anthony Mantella himself in the #8 car. Especially in the second half of the season Mantella Autosport showed a very strong performance in the Pirelli World Challenge. At Utah Motorsports Campus, Anthony Mantella took his first win with the Gulf livered KTM X-BOW GT4, starting the race from his first Pole Position! Two events later, at the final weekend at Laguna Seca, his team mate Martin Barkey won race 1 in his #88 KTM X-BOW GT4 and took Pole Position for race 2.
Barkey and Mantella could finish the first Pirelli World Challenge season with the KTM X-BOW GT4 in 9th and 10th in the drivers ranking, while Mantella Autosport claimed the 6th spot in the Teams Championship due to a strong second half of the season, collecting points in every race.