Walter Lechner senior

Norbert Siedler in the Lechner Racing Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2011 in Monza

Walter Lechner senior (born August 4, 1949 in Vienna ) is an Austrian entrepreneur, motorsport team leader and former racing car driver . He is the father of the two racing drivers Robert Lechner and Walter Lechner junior .

Career

Walter Lechner began his racing career in 1978 in formula racing . In 1978 and 1979 he entered the European Formula 3 Championship and the German Formula 3 Cup with March and Ralt racing cars . In 1979 he reached third place in the German Formula 3 Cup and at the same time his best result of the season in this racing series. In 1980 he switched to the German Formula Ford 1600 and finished in sixth place. At the same time he drove in the VW Castrol Europe Cup .

After a one-year break, he competed again in 1982 in the German Formula 3 Cup and in the VW Castrol Europe Cup, which he won. In the same year he got into the Interseries and drove a March 802 Can-Am for the Weigel-Renntechnik team in the 2nd division. In the following season he drove a Mach 821 Can-Am of the EMCO Sports Team in the 1st division of the Interseries and was able to secure the championship title in 1983. For the Kannacher GT Racing team , he drove his first race in the World Sports Car Championship in the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps in 1983 , which he had to end prematurely with a technical problem with the URD C83. He also drove a Ralt RT3 in the European Formula 3 Championship in 1983.

In the following year he started only in single races in Formula 3 and in the Interseries and concentrated on the CanAm races , where he achieved his best placement with a Williams FW07 C Can-Am at the Lime Rock race with a third place. At the end of the season he was eighth overall.

In 1985 he started with his team Walter Lechner Racing School in the 1st division of the Interserie and finished sixth at the end of the season. Since that year the racing calendar of the German Racing Championship (DRM) consisted of a few races of the Interserie, with the exception of the 200-mile race in Nuremberg, he achieved third place in the DRM season ranking. For Gebhardt Motorsport he started in three races of the sports car world championship. At the 1000 km race in Monza he reached 13th place with Frank Jelinski and Günther Gebhardt . In the other two endurance races at Hockenheim and Selangor , the Gebhardt JC853 racing car failed due to a defect.

In 1986 Lechner first fielded a March 821 and later a Porsche 956 in the first races of the Interseries . In that year he only took part in one race of the sports car world championship in the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring . He and Ernst Franzmaier finished the race on a Gebhardt JC853 in sixth place. In the following season he drove a Porsche 962 C in the 1st division of the Interseries and won his second championship title there. He and his team competed in two races in the sports car world championship - in the 500 km race in Kyalami , he was fifth overall. At the same time, he contested several races in the Supercup with a Porsche 962 C and one race with a BMW M3 in the European Touring Car Championship .

In 1988 he started again in the Interseries, the World Sports Car Championship and the Supercup. That year he competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time . He and his driver colleagues Franz Hunkeler and Manuel Reuter had to end the race early because of an accident. In the following season Lechner won the championship title of the Interseries for the third time with a Porsche 962 C. In the last season of the Supercup, he finished third in the final ranking in 1989. At Le Mans in 1989 he took part in the 24-hour race for the second and last time - but retired due to a puncture.

In 1990 he finished second in the 1st division of the Interseries with the Porsche 962 C. In the next season he switched to the Lechner Spyder SC91 racing car, developed together with Reynard Motorsport , which he used in the 1st division of the Interseries until 1994. At the same time he started from 1992 to 1996 with a Lola Horag in the 2nd division of the Interseries and was runner-up with the car in 1992 and champion in 1994.

In 1995 Walter Lechner won his last championship title in the Austrian Touring Car Championship . In 1996 he ended his active racing career and concentrated on leading his Lechner Racing racing team . With his team he won the driver and team championship of the Porsche Supercup in 2005, 2010 to 2012 . Since 2009 he has been organizing the Porsche GT3 Challenge Middle East for Porsche .

Walter Lechner drove a few more races in the 24H Series in 2008 and 2010 , in which he finished 15th in 2008 with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Type 997) . In 2013 and 2015 he took part in some races of the International GT Open with a Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1988	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Manuel Reuter	Franz Hunkeler	failure	accident
1989	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Roland Ratzenberger	Maurizio Sala	failure	Tire damage

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1983	Kannacher GT	URD C83	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	FUJ	KYA
							DNF
1985	Gebhardt Motorsport	Gebhardt JC842 Gebhardt JC843	MUG	MON	SIL	LEM	HOK	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SEL
				13			DNF
1986	Gebhardt Motorsport	Gebhardt JC853	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	JER	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
									6th
1987	Günther Gebhardt	Gebhardt JC873	JAR	JER	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
											DNF
1988	Brun Motorsport Lechner Racing	Porsche 962	JER	JAR	MON	SIL	LEM	BRÜ	BRH	ONLY	SPA	FUJ	SAN
							DNF				DNF
1989	Team Salamin Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962	SUZ	DIJ	JAR	BRH	ONLY	DON	SPA	MEX
				12		9

Web links

Commons : Lechner Racing  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Walter Lechner senior on Lechner Racing

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} DriverDB - website: Walter Lechner. From: www.driverdb.com , accessed February 15, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Lechnerracing - website: Walter Lechner Sen. At: www.lechnerracing.com , accessed on February 15, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Racingsportscars - Website: Complete Archive of Walter Lechner. From: www.racingsportscars.com , accessed February 15, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Classicscars - Website: Race results and overall placements of the 1985 Interserie. At: www.classicscars.com , accessed on February 15, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Classicscars - website: race results and overall placements of the DRM 1985. On: www.classicscars.com , accessed on February 15, 2019 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Racingsportscars - Website: Complete Archive of Walter Lechner (page 2). From: www.racingsportscars.com , accessed February 15, 2019 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Motorsport magazine - website: Interserie. From: www.motorsportmagazine.com , accessed February 15, 2019 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Racingsportscars - Internet site: Complete Archive of Walter Lechner (page 3). From: www.racingsportscars.com , accessed February 15, 2019 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Racingsportscars - Internet site: Complete Archive of Walter Lechner (page 4). From: www.racingsportscars.com , accessed February 15, 2019 .