Walter Lechner junior

Walter Lechner junior (born June 23, 1981 in Salzburg ) is an Austrian racing team owner, racing driving instructor and former racing driver .

Racing career

Walter Lechner junior is the son of Walter Lechner senior , who began his motorsport career in the 1970s and founded his own racing team with Walter Lechner Racing . His older brother Robert , born in 1977, also took up the profession of racing driver.

His career began in 1997 in Formula Ford , where he won the German 1800 championship in 1998. This year Timo Bernhard (overall sixth) and Casper Elgaard (overall seventh) also drove in this championship. In 1999 he also competed in this racing formula and finished second overall behind Jörg Hardt in the German 1800 championship . In 2001 he became German Formula Volkswagen Champion and switched to GT racing in 2002 .

In 2003 he competed in the FIA GT Championship . He first drove a Porsche 996 GT3-R for RWS-Yukos Motorsport and switched to Konrad Motorsport during the season , where a Saleen S7R was the car. The best position of the year was second place in the final classification at the 500 km race in Anderstorp with teammates Toni Seiler and Franz Konrad . He had already competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2002 , where he achieved a class win, and in 2003 in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring . Walter Lechner stayed in this championship until 2004 , when a leukemia illness interrupted his career. Recovered, he tried a comeback in 2008 and finally ended his driving career with the end of the 2009 season. Together with his brother Robert he founded a company for driving safety and a racing driver school. In 2012 he took over the management of the racing team from his father.