Lechner – a new generation of racing.

The Lechner company motto "Racing ahead since 1975" tells you everything you need to know. But success only comes with hard work. That's why, for employees and racing drivers alike, they know they didn't end up at the successful Austrian racing team by accident. And a focus on commitment and top talent pays off: Lechner have at times been unbeatable in the Supercup over the last decade. The 11 Team Champion titles speak volumes.

Lechner Racing is a team that’s as precise as a telemetry data recorder: Everything is exactly coordinated and meshes together perfectly. This includes the two team licenses with five drivers in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. The lineup in the brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is consistently geared toward podium finishes. In addition to the two long-serving Lechner racing drivers #1 Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (FRA) and #3 Dylan Pereira (LUX), Supercup veteran #4 Tio Ellinas (CYP) and ProAm #5 Nicholas Misslin (MCO) will take their places on the grid. Probably the biggest surprise is the new addition – Porsche Junior #2 Ayhancan Güven (TUR).

Robert Lechner first introduced Ayhancan Güven to his father Walter at the Porsche Night of Champions in Weissach in 2018. Now, the Istanbul native is finally sitting in a Lechner racing car. We talked about the team manager's plans, his goals and his hopes for the new Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season at the official Season Test in Monza.

Hello Robert.

This is your first year without team principal and Supercup legend Walter Lechner. How do you feel? Which of his legacies will you continue – and how do you plan to follow your own path?

First of all, we are talking about my dad, which is a very emotional topic of course. Me and my younger brother grew up in a family of racing drivers and have over 15 years of motorsport experience. We really want to carry on all of our father’s legacy. It just feels right to be back in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup paddock, where he was so successful till his very last minute. The whole team is highly motivated to make him proud and carry on what my dad started. It definitely will be a lot different without him and we will miss him big time with us in the pitlane.

 

What do you expect from Ayhancan Güven's transfer to your "A-Team"?

We’ve been watching Ayhancan for quite some time now and first spoke to him in 2018, but the time wasn‘t right back then. Now that the time has come, we’re more than happy to have such an amazing talent behind the wheel of one of our five Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the series. I don't want to give too much away but he is definitely champion material.

You have a lot of youngsters with a lot of experience in the team. What’s the strategy behind it – what results do you expect with this combination?

When you look back at our history, Lechner Racing has always been an ambitious team of young and upcoming drivers. We are always scouting new talents and that’s why a lot of big names like Toto Wolff, Michael Ammermüller, René Rast, Thomas Preining just to name a few, started their career within our team. This season we have some very talented young drivers as well, but the competition is really tough, so let’s see what will happen. We are ready.

 

What kind of season do you expect in the series? Who will cope best with the new car?

New car, new game – but the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has always been about big challenges and we are here to face them. We just focus on our drivers and do our job here as best as we can to stay on top.

 

What do you think of Porsche’s plans to promote sustainability in their one-make cups?

There is no doubt about the importance of becoming more sustainable. I‘m a father myself and when I look into the future it just gives me a good feeling, when I know that things are moving into the right direction. And when it helps to market our series and develop sustainable engines for racing cars we have a win-win situation.

 

Robert, thank you so much for the chat.