Interviews of Roman Klemm                                              

ROBERT LECHNER: A victim of an unjust passion called motorsport?

In motorsport an athlete is much more dependent on the quality of his "tools” than anywhere else. In football, all it takes is putting on a pair of football boots and in tennis, picking up a racket, for an enthusiastic adept to objectively prove his talent. Finding and financing the right racing car is much more complicated, sometimes downright impossible. It can certainly be summed up that while the most talented guys play in the 1st football league, Formula 1 is largely full of such who had political luck and enough money. Whenever I think about this injustice, one name comes to my mind representing all those who "didn't make it” even though they clearly had the talent to do so: Robert Lechner.

The tiny boy from Austrias Salzburg region was his country's great hope - but he never got a F1 cockpit, which he was seemingly destined for. Today, Robert is a very successful team owner, manager and TV commentator. We talked about his career, his legendary father and other aspects of life at the headquarters of his organization in Thalgau, near Salzburg.

For every motorsport fan in mid-Europe, the name Lechner is a household name. Thanks to your father, Walter Lechner senior

Dad was one of the top protagonists of the Interserie, which experienced its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. Dad became champion four times. My brother Walter junior and I grew up with motorsport. Dad was always on the road and my friends at school of course liked to talk to me about it. Sports personalities, such as Roland Ratzenberger or the later boss of Toro Rosso, Franz Tost, would regularly appear at our house. Roland was even our nanny sometimes!

For example, in Czechoslovakia I sometimes felt a special pride. Hundreds of thousands of spectators attended the Intersérie races. When we arrived in Most in front of the Murom Hotel, hundreds of fans were already waiting for autographs and stickers. They rushed at my dad, and I thought "Dad is a Rockstar!"

On the other hand, I still remember the terrible Czech borders well. There was barbed wire everywhere, machine guns and so on... I was scared. Even as a child I suspected that something was wrong here. At that time, you could win good money in the Intersérie. But no one was allowed to take it out of the kommunist country. That's why brother Walter and I had almost exclusively Czech toys at home. I also remember our kitchen full of Czech dishes! Dad had to spend his prize-money on something..

And so Dad directed you both to racing...

Not at all. He didn't let us drive for a long time. Looking back, I have to say that it would have been better if he had pushed us into go-karts earlier. I never had one of my own and I envied the other kids in the paddocks who were allowed to race around on Monkey Bikes. Dad was a realist. He knew the sport and knew that it was not only expensive but also dangerous.

But finally you become a racing driver?

Lechner Racing had a racing school at the Österreichring. Me and Walter were always allowed to help out there for a few weeks during the holidays. There was a karting track there, which I tried out on. Alexander Wurz's father, Franz, saw me and suggested to my dad to enter me in club races. I did well. I started to race in the championships. But my dad didn't interfere - he had enough of his own work. My mom and a friend helped me.

But did he observe your results?

Yes, he did. He was satisfied and decided to support me in Formula Ford for one season. I immediately became Austrian champion and at the end of the year I won the European Championship race ahead of Bas Leinders at Brands Hatch. The next day I entered the Formula Ford Festival, a kind of world championship in this class, and I finished fourth behind Mark Webber. While still in England, the boss of Van Diemen, Ralph Firman, offered me a free factory car for the British Championship for the following year. Webber was to be my teammate.

Back then, everything you touched simply turned to gold?

It looked promising. I won the Formula Renault chapmpionship and in 1998 I was runner-up in the prestigious international German Formula 3 championship. After the 1998 season, I had several offers to move to Formula 3000 and to test Formula 1. AMG-Mercedes and Opel talked to me about a car for the DTM. Today, Mercedes' sports director is Toto Wolff, one of the students of the Walter-Lechner-Racing-School. Big management groups like Willi Weber (Schumacher), Peter Cramer and WWP also contacted me. But my dad was convinced that it was all too early. I was such a skinny little guy at the time and he wanted to protect me from the pitfalls of the big world. We turned everyone down - and they didn't call me back for the second time...

You just didn't use the right "momentum"?

Guess so... I stayed in Formula 3 for a second year, as the favorite. The pressure was enormous, growing bigger even with my success! In 1999 I was faster and a better driver than before, but I had a few accidents and didn't win the title.

Where was the turning point in a career that had been clearly heading towards the F1 cockpit?

I thought I would make everything clear by winning in Macau. I had an accident in qualifying, but I still achieved the third fastest time. In the race I was in second place behind Jenson Button when I rammed the barrier at the second corner... I was convinced of myself being a top driver - but the accident tarnished my performance in the eyes of influential observers. (For Robert this crash still seems to be a  nightmare: he takes out his mobile phone and shows me the scene in a short film)

Like Ratzenberger, Schumacher and Irvine, you then sought salvation in Japan.

I had two options for the 2000 season. Either progress to Formula 3000 or Japanese F3. I tested F3000 with the Super Nova and Astromega teams in Jerez. Young Fernando Alonso was also testing there. He was incredibly fast and I thought he was better than me. It was a wrong judgment. Today it is clear to me that he had to be faster - he had been driving on that track for a whole year, while it was completely new to me...

I then decided for Japan. The boss of the Tom's-Toyota factory team approached me in Macau. It meant that I could earn money through sport. I also wanted to prove that I could do it on my own, without my dad. And I also wanted to simply get away from the pressures in Austria and become a factory driver.

But this "Japanese plan" didn't work...

I managed to win, but I was too far away from Europe. Before the "Internet era" this was a big problem. The news about my results were not very visible here, so my successes were de facto worthless. Besides, I couldn't make friends with the language and culture of the Japanese. They offered me to continue driving their F3000 and GT, but I decided to return to Europe. However, the world is very forgetful and I found myself back here without sponsors and without a manager... (Authors memory about Lechner's Japanese phase: As agreed, I supplied Robert with news from sports Europe by fax. In return, he promised me that I would be one of the first people he would call when he won his first race in Japan. I will never forget the telephone ringing me out of bed early one Sunday morning!)

Today you are an experienced manager yourself. What do you consider to be the decisive mistake of your career in retrospect?

In 1999 I should have moved to DTM and take the position of a Formula 1 test driver at the same time. I think my sponsor at the time, the telephone company A1, would have arranged it financially. I also shouldn't have "managed myself". I should have left it to professionals with important connections. Being tied to my sponsor Dark Dog (a soft drink company) was also a negative. It slammed the door on me at Red Bull forever. Today I consider myself an even better manager than I was as a driver. With today's experience, having the patronage of young Robert, I would definitely have gotten him into F1!

What was the best moment of your active career..?

I think my victory at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in 2002. We won together with Pedro Lamy and Peter Zakowski in a Dodge Viper and it's especially nice when you can celebrate with your colleagues.

And the saddest..?

An special evening in a hotel in Suzuka during my first race weekend in Japan springs to my mind. I was three tenths off the top times and I had no idea where to find them. I felt terribly alone and helpless at that time. My eyes got wet and I asked myself if it wasn't a mistake to go there in the first place..?

The racer Robert Lechner then became the team owner...

I drove my last race for Aston Martin in 2008 together with my good friend Tomáš Enge at the Nürburgring. In 2005, my brother and I founded an agency that specialized in various presentations and PR events. One such event was our implementation and organization of the Mini-Cooper-Challenge championship. The project a success and we moved up to the Porsche Supercup. 

How do you and your brother divide the work?

I am kind of the "software” of the team and Walter the "hardware”. As a trained economist, I mainly take care of the financial side and marketing. Walter is responsible for logistics and technology. Even as a child, I preferred to design helmets, while Walter loved to take things apart and put them together again.

Lechner Racing used to be part of single seater racing, why isn't it the case anymore?

About a decade ago we were still in F4, with the excellent Thomas Preining, among others. But single-seaters have developed in a direction that I don't like. Using turbocharged engines in F4 gave too many opportunities for cheating. I also don't like that 15-year-olds are racing today. They are under enormous pressure. We don't need that - and I have the impression that formula sport doesn't need Lechner Racing as well...

And your previous dream of running a car in the DTM?

That's gone. DTM is no longer what it used to be. Our team and this championship have developed in completely opposite directions.

Lechner Racing is a top runner in the Porsche Supercup. Between 2017 and 2019, Michael Ammermüller won three titles, Dylan Pereira in 2022 and Bastian Buus in 2023. What were your plans for this season?

Our drivers Robert de Haan (in the pink colors of the sponsor BWT) and Marvin Klein (will get the red Windhager-Porsche) drove with numbers 1 and 2. And that's exactly where I wanted to see them at the end of the season. They finished in 2nd and 4th - so there is a challenge for 2026

As a team, we compete in the Supercup only. But in addition to that, we work as organizers of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Central Europe and the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East.

And your personal goals?

I have already received several offers to work in marketing or F1 management, but my heart belongs to Lechner Racing, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. I will stay here and lead it to further successes in a sporting future that will soon undergo much more serious changes than we suspect. I have to prepare the team for that.