On the occasion of this year’s ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring race, IWC Schaffhausen welcomes professional racing driver Laura Kraihamer to the IWC racing family. Kraihamer will be behind the wheel during this weekend’s legendary event at the German circuit, competing for her team.
Born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1991, Kraihamer caught the racing bug at a young age from her older brother Dominik, who used to drive in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Beginning her career in the typical style, Kraihamer spent four years racing karts professionally before moving to the internal KTM series in 2012. Winning the KTM X-BOW Battle Endurance Championship in her first two seasons, she also landed a Rijeka test run. In 2016, she was named vice-champion in her rookie drive in the GT4 European Series in Reiter Young Stars before securing a further two podiums in 2017. A third season of GT4 combined with appearances at several of 2018’s 24-hour events, including those at the Nordschleife and Barcelona’s CREVENTIC series, in which she finished second in her class.
In 2019, Kraihamer switched to ADAC GT4 Germany, claiming a win and two further podiums from 12 races. Last season, she competed in five different international series for KTM, including DTM Trophy races, Nürburgring 24 Hours races and Nürburgring Long Distance Series events, where she secured a podium. Alongside driving in a second DTM Trophy season this year, the 29-year-old is also part of KTM’s car development and engineering team, playing a pivotal role in developing 2021’s new KTM X-BOW GTX.
“I am thrilled to be joining the IWC Racing family," explained Kraihamer. "From my first lap in a racing car, I knew it was what I wanted to do professionally, and I’ve worked hard ever since to overcome every challenge to fulfil my dreams. To now be associated with a brand which is as passionate as I am about racing is an absolute honour.”
As a new Friend of the Brand for IWC, Kraihamer joins IWC brand ambassador and Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maro Engel and Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver Maximilian Götz as members of IWC’s family of racers. Like Kraihamer, Engel and Götz are competing at the Nürburgring event for their respective teams this weekend.
