"We fought through all the challenges once again, like we have done somehow all the season – and this time we managed to put it all together" - Laura Kraihamer achieved her first podium in the European GT2 Championship at Monza, overcoming illness and a start from the back of the grid after issues in qualifying to finish second in the ProAm class in Race 1.
Laura Kraihamer secured her first podium finish in the European GT2 Championship following an impressive performance in Monza Race 1, where the Austrian racer, alongside teammate Hubert Trunkenpolz, executed a remarkable recovery drive from the back of the grid to claim second place in the ProAm class aboard the #17 True Racing KTM X-Bow GT2.
"I'm just so happy that we had it all coming together this weekend and could score a podium", Kraihamer said. "I think the team has worked really hard and has not had a lucky season so far. I'm super proud that the team has worked so hard up to now, and that we had some kind of redemption at the end."
The duo returned to the series after missing the rounds at Spa-Francorchamps and Hockenheim, having achieved a personal best of fifth in class at Misano, where they rebounded from a tough start to the season, showing significant progress throughout the Italian weekend.
Kraihamer – a race winner in ADAC GT4 and a class winner at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, both in KTM machinery – made her European GT2 Championship debut in 2022 with a partial campaign. She returned in 2024 in a ProAm entry at the season opener at Paul Ricard.
While the first round was plagued by bad luck that limited the True Racing's duo track time, Misano represented a clear step forward. Kraihamer and Trunkenpolz were determined to build on that momentum as they arrived at Monza for the fifth round of the season, eager to make further gains at the Temple of Speed.
However, the weekend was off to a suboptimal start, as the team would have to again overcome several adversities. Kraihamer missed the first practice session due to illness; Trunkenpolz set a 1:50.441, which placed the team P8 in class by the end of FP1. In Pre-Qualifying, Kraihamer, still battling illness, managed a few laps and set a 1:47.529.
"It had started super tough again with me being ill", she told us. "I love this racetrack and it was really bad that I got ill exactly into the race."
"I couldn't do FP1 because I was feeling so bad, I only did a few laps in FP2 to get into the rhythm."
Their troubles continued when an issue required significant repairs just before qualifying. Trunkenpolz was unable to participate in Q1, and despite the True Racing crew's extraordinary effort to get the car ready, Kraihamer could only manage an outlap in Q2, without setting a representative lap time.
As a result, the duo would have to start both races from the back of the pack. Kraihamer, still not fully recovered, thus entered the race with limited driving time, but luckily with some prior experience of the iconic Monza circuit.
On Saturday, Trunkenpolz took the wheel for the first stint, making a cautious start at the tricky Monza first chicane but moving into P16 overall and seventh in ProAm, as Gianluca Giorgi's LP Racing Audi encountered issues before the race began.
Trunkenpolz showed strong early pace early on, but the race was quickly interrupted by a safety car on lap 2 following a major crash at the first chicane involving Roberto Pampanini's Dinamic Motorsport Maserati and Thomas Andersen's #80 KTM.
The race resumed on lap 6 with Trunkenpolz climbing to ninth overall and fourth in class, avoiding the chaos around him. He then improved his times, running just behind Philippe Chatelet.
When Chatelet pitted on lap 9 as soon as the pit window opened, Trunkenpolz moved up, and shortly after, race leader Martin Koch spun at Lesmo 2, promoting Leonardo Gorini in the #1 LP Racing Maserati to the ProAm lead. Trunkenpolz pitted on lap 10 to hand over to Laura Kraihamer.
Kraihamer rejoined the race in fifth overall and second in class, immediately setting the car’s fastest lap at 1:48.3. She continued to push hard, aiming to keep the gap stable from the fast-charging Reinhard Kofler. When the MZR Motorsportzentrum Ried KTM was penalized with a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane, Kraihamer could focus ahead and on closing the gap to Krebec's #89 KTM.
Laura consistently improved her lap times, managing to hold her position and ultimately securing fifth overall and second in ProAm. This marked her first ProAm class podium in the GT2 European Championship – a breakthrough performance for the Austrian racer, especially given the circumstances.
"We were fighting some issues and we couldn't do our qualifying laps", Laura summarized. "I just did an outlap before the end of qualifying, so we had to start from the back of the grid again in both races. Nevertheless, through all these challenges we fought through and scored this podium which I'm just really happy about."
Kraihamer started Race 2 on Sunday morning, aiming to finish the weekend strongly. The race went green with Reinhard Kofler on overall pole in the #812 KTM. Kraihamer had a cautious start but quickly settled into sixth in class.
She claimed ninth overall on the next lap and maintained a steady pace, gradually improving her lap times and closing the gap to Pascal Gibon's Akkodis Mercedes.
Though Kraihamer was stuck behind the two Mercedes in front, she stayed close, and eventually passed Beaubelique for eighth overall on lap 12. Once in clean air, she further improved her personal best with a lap time of 1:47.434, inching closer to Gibon as the pit window approached.
Despite applying pressure, Gibon's Mercedes had the advantage on Monza's long straights. Kraihamer pitted at the end of the window, handing over to Trunkenpolz while in seventh overall and sixth in ProAm.
Unfortunately, a slow pit stop cost the duo several seconds, dropping them to P11 overall, though they retained sixth in class.
However, Trunkenpolz showed encouraging speed, advancing to P10 overall when Alexandre Leroy went off at the first chicane with 10 minutes remaining.
In an uninterrupted race, Trunkenpolz brought the car home in tenth overall and sixth in ProAm, capping a clean race with consistent lap time improvements.
Despite a difficult start to the weekend, Monza proved to be Kraihamer’s best performance to date in the European GT2 Championship, demonstrating her consistent fighting spirit and racecraft when not hampered by bad luck.
"I'm just really happy for the whole team, as the work has paid off this weekend" – she added. "We fought through all the challenges once again, like we have done somehow all the season – and this time we managed to put it all together and with no more bad luck we could score a podium."
The final round of the GT2 European Championship will take place at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona on October 11-13.
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