TBK-Light.com

Another young talented New Zealand race car driver is about to head overseas to test Porsches at the highest level. Nineteen-year-old Jono Lester leaves for Bahrain on December 3 for a fortnight to test and develop the new 2010 Porsche GT3 Cup car with Lechner Racing and Porsche AG.

The testing will coincide with pre-season testing for the new Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, which is also being run and operated by Lechner Racing. Lester will join teammate Stefan Rosina driving all 18 of the 2010 cars doing preliminary mileage and setup development for cars being used in the Middle East series. They will also be on hand to coach any number of Middle Eastern drivers who want to avail themselves of the Porsche drivers' expertise.

One of the cars will be converted to Porsche Supercup spec (carbon ceramic brakes etc) and used specifically for serious testing by Lester and Rosina in preparation for the Supercup series in 2010. These two will be the first drivers to get a taste of the new 2010 spec cars and the series begins in Bahrain next year with two races.

Walter Lechner Snr has a history with New Zealand motorsport after bringing Alex Wurz here in 1991 in Formula Ford, and his son Robert in Formula Holden a few years later.

He struck up a relationship with Lester's father Richard when he was running Greg Murphy and then Ashley Stichbury in the Shell Scholarship Formula Fords. Stichbury did his motorsport OE with Lechner Racing by spending an extended period of time with the team in Europe. Lechner then sold four of his European Formula Fords to Richard Lester Motorsport in the late 1990s that were used in New Zealand as Van Diemen RF92s.

Lechner recently offered Lester the opportunity to test with him in July at the Hungaroring, Hungary, where he spent two days behind the wheel of Damien Faulkner's Porsche GT3 Cup car around the 4.4km circuit.

"My time behind the wheel of a Supercup car was an amazing experience, as was the atmosphere of the European circuits, and both the professionalism and hospitality I experienced as part of the Lechner Racing team," said Lester. "Walter Lechner is not only a highly accomplished driver in his own right, but he went out of his way to make sure I got the most out of my time with the team, and I have come away far better for it."

In addition to the Supercup, Lechner is working on a Le Mans project for 2011 that involves Lester as a driver. His dream in motorsport is to race at Le Mans in the iconic 24-hour race.

Lester is not racing in the New Zealand series this year so that all his energy can be directed to the 2010 Supercup series.

"I want to focus all my time on getting ready for the Supercup rather than split my focus on two race series," he said. "I'm looking forward to doing a full season with the Lechner team in the Supercup cars starting in Bahrain next year. The testing is going to be invaluable for me in the lead up to what is going to be a really exciting year for me in Supercup."

Niall Breen (23, Ireland), Jono Lester (20, New Zealand), Tim Sandtler (22, Germany), Harald Schlegelmilch (22, Latvia) and Ferdinand Stuck (18, Germany) share up to 180,000 Euro as a cash injection into their racing budgets for the international Porsche Mobil1 Supercup or the Carrera Cup Deutschland. With this, Porsche writes yet another chapter in its long-standing and hugely successful junior development programme in motorsport. “We’re very pleased with this talent search,” summarised Jens Walther, Head of Porsche’s brand trophy series. “All participants were extremely disciplined. We had neither an accident nor a technical defect with the three brand-new vehicles. We carefully weighed up each candidate against each other. The five drivers we selected can rightfully call themselves a “Porsche Motorsport Talent”. All in all, we were very impressed by the standard of participants and hope to see as many of them as possible contesting the Porsche one-make series.”

Twelve pilots from six countries spent two days testing three 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars. Each driver had the same number of new tyres at their disposal. Assisted by Porsche engineers, the pilots worked on setting up the vehicles. Porsche racing aces Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jan Seyffarth were on hand to give participants valuable tips and advice, assisted by computer-aided data analyses. In 2008 and 2009, Bleekemolen won the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, with former Porsche Junior Jan Seyffarth securing third in last year’s Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. The budding young racers were also judged on criteria like personality as well as team and communication skills.

The five selected hopefuls hail from a wide range of motorsport categories. Niall Breen is the two-time champion of the Formula BMW Great Britain. In 2008 he contested the Formula 3 Euro Series. “Although I’ve been driving Formula cars only and haven’t sat in a race car for ages, it didn’t take me long at all to get used to the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. I was easily able to adapt my driving style from Formula 3 to the GT vehicle and I improved from session to session.”

At the age of 17, Jono Lester won a round of the Porsche GT3 Cup New Zealand to finish last season fourth overall. “I’m really pleased that Porsche chose me as one of the five talents. I would like to use my budget to contest the Supercup. The new Cup vehicle suits my driving style very well. The most difficult aspect will be to familiarise myself with the circuits. I hardly know any tracks outside New Zealand. My greatest dream is to one day become a Porsche works driver.”

Tim Sandtler began his career at the age of ten in a kart and, most recently, contested several races in various Formula 3 championships. “I’m very proud Porsche has selected me as a talent after this very intensive and fair screening. I would very much like to race in the Carrera Cup. The most appealing aspect for me is the close competition and the fact that everyone has identical equipment.”

Harald Schlegelmilch claimed the German Formula 3 Trophy title in 2006 and went on to take Austria’s Formula 3 Championship that same year. In 2009, the youngster competed in the German Formula 3 Cup, the international Formula Masters and the American Formula Atlantic. “This is first time ever that I’ve sat in a car with a roof. I’m surprised how quickly I adapted to the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The car is much faster and more precise than I had expected – a truly super racer. I felt really good after just five laps and could then go to the limit. What a great opportunity. And it’s fantastic that a manufacturer does something for young drivers in such difficult economic times.”

Ferdinand Stuck, the youngest son of racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck, made his racing debut in 2003 at the wheel of a kart before going on to contest the ADAC Formula Masters in 2008 and 2009. “I was surprised by the amount of time we were given on the track during this selection process. The data evaluation with Cup professionals Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jan Seyffarth was priceless. I learnt an incredible amount from the two. I’m looking forward to my season in the Carrera Cup. Porsche’s organisation of this championship is very professional, so I have a great deal to offer my sponsors.” – bbe, source Porsche AG

Cars don't really look right with the big wing on the back.

I think they look great.