THE co-founder of one of Germany’s best-known restaurant chains has died after his car left a mountain road and plunged into a ravine during a rally in Mallorca.
Klaus Rader, 63, was killed on Friday afternoon on the MA-10 near Mortitx, between Pollença and Lluc, in the Serra de Tramuntana.
His white 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS left the road at around kilometre ten on the stretch from Pollença towards Lluc, for reasons that are still unknown.
Help came too late for Rader. Fire crews from Alcudia and Inca attended, while a helicopter was also sent but not needed.
Crucially, Rader was not racing. He and co-driver Christina Ettel, were checking the closed stage as part of the event’s test team, running as car 000.
The Guardia Civil’s judicial police unit in Inca has opened an investigation.
Organisers of the sixth Rally 550 Challenge Mallorca, which began on Thursday and was due to end on Saturday, scrapped all remaining stages, saying: “No result, ranking, or sporting objective can take precedence over what truly matters.”
Rader launched L’Osteria in 1999 with business partner Friedemann Findeis, taking over an Italian eatery in Nuremberg with just five tables.
It grew into an international chain, and although an investment firm became majority owner in 2023, Rader remained on the supervisory board.
Last year the chain opened its first Mallorca branch at the Mallorca Fashion Outlet in Marratxi, and Rader had recently moved to a finca in Alaró, according to Mallorca Zeitung.
A seasoned motorsport figure, he had raced with teams including Huber Motorsport and Rowe Racing.
He leaves a wife and four children.
Wife Viktoria Radar said in a heartfelt message on Instagram that her life had changed ‘forever’ and that she is trying to ‘navigate this unimaginable tragedy’.
Co-driver Christina Ettel, 39, suffered a spinal injury and was taken to hospital. However, motorsport sources later told Mallorca Zeitung she was doing well and out of danger.
A professional co-driver known as ‘Dina’, she read pace notes for Luca Pröglhöf in the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, with the duo finishing third overall in 2023 and winning the season finale at the Central European Rally.
She previously partnered Christoph Zellhofer in Austrian rallying, picking up a string of class wins and an overall victory at the Hartbergerland round of the Austrian Rallye Challenge.
No stranger to Mallorca’s roads, she led the competition class of the 2018 Rally Clasico Mallorca after the first stage, alongside Kris Rosenberger in a 1981 Porsche 911.
Click here to read more Mallorca News from The Olive Press.