Mcchip-dkr has unveiled its driver line-up for the KTM X-Bow GTX project at the Nordschleife. The car tuner and race team from the Eifel returns to the VLN Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) for the first three races and the Nürburgring 24 Hours with drivers Danny “Dieter Schmidtmann” Kubasik, Heiko Hammel and 2020 DTM Trophy Tim Heinemann.

Danny Kubasik, using his nom de course “Dieter Schmidtmann”, is the founder of mcchip-dkr and an avid racer himself, having piloted GT3 cars with Manthey Racing and Phoenix Racing before racing his own Renault RS01 and Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. Heiko Hammel, meanwhile, has been with mcchip-dkr since 2017 when the tuner began entering its own race cars at the Nürburgring.

Heinemann joins the team on the back of a highly successful season in the DTM Trophy where he won the title with a staggering seven wins in twelve races. In 2018 he was scheduled to start in a single VLN race with mcchip-dkr, however, a crash by his co-driver early in the race prevented Heinemann from racing that day. The 23-year-old replaces Christoph Breuer who was initially announced as the third driver but was unable to combine his racing schedule with his work for Porsche.

“[Tim Heinemann] is a driver who doesn’t fit in our team: he’s young, he’s very dynamic, he’s fucking fast, and made a fool of the competition last year in the DTM Trophy,” Kubasik describes his young new driver in a recent video. “I feel confident we have someone who’s fast and talented but also understands the importance of teamwork. It will be a challenge and we are taking a risk, but I believe the guy will be fast quickly, and become a valuable driver for our team — we made the right decision.”

Mcchip-dkr was largely absent from racing a self-funded car in 2020, making a sole appearance at the ADAC GT Masters round at the Nürburgring with a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. However, the squad was more active in customer racing, running two Lamborghinis in the GTC Race Series and a Mercedes-Benz C300 W205 in the NLS.

For 2021, a more cost-effective race car was found in the KTM X-Bow GTX, bought by a mcchip-dkr customer and loaned out to the team to develop specifically for the Nordschleife and to be raced at a later date by the customer with support from the team.

The new machine will see action in the restructured Cup X class for GT4 and GTX type X-Bows. Because of the open technical nature of the class, mcchip-dkr has fitted KW suspension underneath the car.

Mcchip-dkr’s KTM X-Bow GTX adventure and other activities are documented in open and honest fashion on their YouTube channel.

The 2021 season of the VLN Nürburgring Endurance Series kicks off on 27 March and is preceded by the annual pre-season test one week earlier. Click HERE for the SP9/GT3 entry list.

Image by Kernasenko J.

 
 

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