The X-Bow has been reborn as a rally-ready off-roader

Just a month since reporting the news that the KTM X-Bow brand had been sold to an investment group, the project would continue in the same, slick, sporty and on-road direction it had always been heading in.

It turns out that wasn’t the case, though, as the people behind the hypercar brand have teamed with Belgium’s G Rally Team and are set to take on the 2026 Dakar Rally! Launching a new programme under the banner ‘KTM X-Bow powered by G Rally Team’, the vehicle becomes the first proper off-road outing for the X-Bow name, with the Austrian manufacturer stepping into rally-raid using G Rally Team’s existing G-ECKO platform. It’s worth mentioning that there is no suggestion that the new off-road carries any of the parts or equipment from the X-Bow road cars - although that may not be the case in years to come.

Drivers of one of the cars will be Puck Klaassen and Augusto Sanz. The duo already knows the G-ECKO well, having scored both a stage win and a category podium at the Rallye du Maroc. Klaassen, just a year and a half into her cross-country career, has quickly built a reputation for speed; Sanz, still young himself, arrives with experience beyond his years. They’ll open KTM X-Bow’s Dakar chapter with car #302.

The second crew pairs the rookies Charles Munster and Xavier Panseri, who are swapping traditional special-stage rallies for dunes and roadbooks. The Luxembourger arrives with form and victory at Baja Aragón, and two stage wins in Morocco. He’s partnered with veteran French navigator Panseri, who brings roughly a decade of Dakar experience and an overall second place in 2024. They’ll take on the event with car #335.

Both crews will run G-ECKO machines built by G Rally Team, marking the opening phase of a long-term KTM X-Bow push into rally-raid. The programme won’t stop at Dakar either, as a full 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) is on the schedule.

Alongside the main KTM-backed effort, G Rally Team will field two additional G-ECKO cars in the Challenger category. Both crews are Dutch. Kees Koolen, a familiar face who has competed in just about everything (bike, quad, car, SSV, and truck), returns with ex-MotoGP rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh navigating. A second crew, Lex Peters & Mark Salomons, will make their Challenger debut in Saudi Arabia.

The move isn’t the end of the X-Bow on-road cars, with the new website for the brand still showing three models available to customers. The GT-XR is the base on-road and track model, while the GT-X is billed as “the ultimate track weapon”. Heading up the on-road range is GT-2, which is defined as an “SRO GT2 European Series Racecar”.