Basically, large and even smaller motorsports teams compete on the circuit, in hill climbs, rallies, rally raids, drifting, and even sidecar motocross with motorsports hardware from our brands KW suspensions and Reiger. At this point, we would like to congratulate the numerous “privateers” in particular.
Keeping track of everything is virtually impossible given the abundance of championships and races. It is almost easier to say where the motorsports dampers from KW suspensions and Reiger are not used.
Hardly a race weekend without our motorsports customers
Due to the boom in customer racing by car manufacturers with their range of homologated race cars for one-make cups, GT4 and GT3 racers, there is hardly a weekend today without a race. The successes of the car manufacturers’ customer sports teams equipped with our dampers are increasing.
In addition to all the BMW M4 GT3 Evo, BMW M4 GT4 Evo, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, the Porsche 911 GT3 R, the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, and the Toyota GR Supra GT4, we also equipped the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo and Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo with our KW Racing dampers. In 2026, the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 and the BMW M2 Racing will be added to the list.
This year alone, we saw the unusual situation of three endurance classics challenging all motorsports players within three weeks. Our customers were among them. But first things first, because while motorsports takes a break in Europe during the winter months, things were heating up in Saudi Arabia and Australia.
2025 Dakar Rally: Reiger Suspension celebrates eleventh consecutive overall victory
For the eleventh time in a row, a vehicle equipped with Reiger Suspension dampers won the Dakar Rally in January 2025. Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk won in the Toyota GR Hilux Evo (#201) from Overdrive Racing – it was the first victory for a Saudi Arabian driver in the Dakar car classification.
Second place went to the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team with Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings in the Toyota GR Hilux Evo (#211). Reiger Suspension customers also celebrated fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth places and claimed twelve stage victories.
The Dacia Sandrider celebrated a successful premiere: Five-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Edouard Boulanger placed the Dacia (#200), equipped with Reiger dampers, in fourth place overall. You can find out more on our blog or check out our interactive Dakar Special.
Bathurst 12h: BMW celebrates first GT3 victory in Australia
Team WRT secured BMW’s first overall victory in the GT3 era at the 12-hour race in Bathurst at the end of January 2025. Brothers Sheldon and Kelvin van der Linde, together with Augusto Farfus, won in the BMW M4 GT3 (#32) at this prestigious season opener of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
The BMW impressed with its superior range and consistent performance. Second place also went to Team WRT with Valentino Rossi, Raffaele Marciello, and Charles Weerts in the BMW M4 GT3 (#46) – a one-two victory at the start of the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC).
BMW sets a strong pace in international GT3 championships
Kelvin van der Linde, brother of Sheldon van der Linde, made motorsports history in 2025: in his first year with BMW, he won both the drivers’ and team championships in the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
With victories at Bathurst, the Nürburgring, Suzuka, and Indianapolis – four out of five races – the South African showed impressive consistency in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo (#46) from Team WRT. At the finale in Indianapolis, he shared the cockpit with motorsports legends Valentino Rossi and Charles Weerts. BMW also celebrated the manufacturers’ title in the IGTC for the first time in history.
Patrick Gallagher and Justin Rothberg from the US BMW team Turner Motorsport won the Pro-AM overall standings. Kelvin van der Linde was also unstoppable in Europe.
Together with Charles Weerts in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo (#32) from Team WRT, he won the overall standings in the GT World Challenge Europe. The team celebrated three victories and four further podium finishes.
In the Silver category of the Endurance Cup, Jarrod Waberski, Mex Jansen, and William Moore from Team Century Motorsport were crowned drivers’ champions.
24h Nürburgring: Rowe Racing triumphs with M4 GT3 after dramatic finale
The 53rd ADAC RAVENOL 24h·Rennen Nürburgring offered a dramatic finale in front of a record crowd of 280,000 spectators throughout the weekend. Rowe Racing won with the BMW M4 GT3 Evo (#98) and drivers Raffaele Marciello, Kelvin van der Linde, Jesse Krohn, and Augusto Farfus.
The victory was decided at the green table: although the Manthey EMA Porsche “Grello” (#911) with Kévin Estre, Thomas Preining, and Ayhancan Güven crossed the finish line first, the team was subsequently handed a 100-second penalty. The penalty resulted from a collision between Kévin Estre and a GT4 Aston Martin in the Wehrseifen section of the track.
For Kelvin van der Linde, it was his third overall victory in the 24-hour race – and his first with BMW. For us as the suspension supplier, it was the tenth, and the second- and third-place finishers also had our KW V6 Racing dampers on board. The race was also overshadowed by a spectacular incident: a power failure led to a 2.5-hour interruption of the race.
Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) – the champions drive KW
After seven consecutive titles for Adrenalin Motorsport, there was a new champion in the NLS in 2025: FK Performance Motorsport won the NLS overall classification with Ranko Mijatovic and Nick Wüstenhagen in the BMW M4 GT4 (#187).
With nine class victories in ten races, they dominated their SP8T class. Ranko Mijatovic thus became the first driver after Johannes Scheid to successfully defend his title after a car change – in 2024, he had won in Adrenalin Motorsport’s BMW M240i Racing.
DTM: Manthey EMA and Ayhancan Güven crowned champions
In the 2025 DTM, the Porsche team Manthey EMA celebrated historic successes. Ayhancan Güven became the first Turkish DTM champion in the series’ 40-year history with five season victories in the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#90).
The dramatic finale in Hockenheim went down in history: Nine drivers arrived with a chance of winning the title. On the final lap, Ayhancan Güven secured victory and the title with a courageous overtaking maneuver against Marco Wittmann in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
Manthey EMA had already won the team classification on Saturday – for the second time after 2023. Morris Schuring was also named “DTM Rookie of the Year 2025.” With seven season victories, Porsche was the most successful manufacturer in the DTM season; five of these were scored by Ayhancan Güven and two by his teammate Thomas Preining.
24h Le Mans: Porsche dominates the highly competitive LMGT3 class in the FIA WEC
At the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 14-15, 2025), Manthey 1st Phorm won with the Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 (#92). Richard Lietz, Antares Au, and Klaus Bachler successfully defended their previous year’s victory in the LMGT3 class. It was the sixth Le Mans class victory for Porsche works driver Richard Lietz. The LMGT3 field in the FIA WEC comprised 24 cars from nine manufacturers: Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche.
At the end of the season, the new champion is the old champion! Congratulations! Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz, and Ryan Hardwick won the LMGT3 drivers’ championship in the “Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R” with start number (#) 92. The team also won the 2025 LMGT3 team championship.
World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) and World Rally Championship (WRC)
In the W2RC, all Toyota GR Hilux Evo and Overdrive Racing vehicles are equipped with Reiger hardware. The picture is similar in the FIA World Rally Raid Championship (WRC). Here, too, all Toyota cars are equipped with Reiger dampers, and 2025 was dominated by the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
The “Rally Yaris” won ten of the twelve rally races in the world championship. After the tenth world championship race, it was already clear that Toyota Gazoo Racing had once again won the manufacturers’ championship. This is the sixth time in seven years that Toyota has won the manufacturers’ championship in the World Rally Championship.
But Toyota Gazoo Racing has even more to celebrate in the WRC. In the WRC final, Sébastien Ogier needed only a third-place finish to win the drivers’ championship as well. Incidentally, this is the Frenchman’s ninth WRC title, putting him on par with his compatriot Sébastien Loeb.
KW Berg Cup 2025
The season finale in the KW Berg Cup delivered a close duel at the top, with only 30.59 points separating the top three in the overall standings at the end.
The overall winner was Lars Heisel in an Opel Böhm Kadett 16V, who won the highly competitive 2-liter class six times.
In second place was the team of Armin Ebenhöh and Tobias Mayer, who scored eight class victories in the 1.4-liter division with their VW Minichberger Scirocco 16V.
The podium was completed by Marco Schöbel from Vorarlberg in third place. He consistently put his 8-valve Opel Gerent Kadett C Coupé in the spotlight in the 2-liter class and secured victories at Hauenstein and Hemberg, among others.
A total of 96 race cars scored points in the KW Berg Cup and NSU Bergpokal series in the eleven races on the calendar. The eight best results per driver or team were included in the final standings.
Images manufacturer, teams, archive
