Le Mans winner Lietz

“At first I thought it was a joke”

Richard Lietz (2nd from right) has already won five times at Le Mans, and this year he will be attacking for the 19th time.

(Bild: Porsche)

Twelfth in Qatar. Not a start to the World Endurance Championship to Richard Lietz's liking. A few days later, the world looks better: The Porsche works driver's name is on the official start list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And for the 19th time. Lietz is already aiming for his sixth victory in the PS classic in June. Yet the Ybbs-based driver was actually on the verge of retirement.

With the abolition of the GT Pro class in the WRC a year and a half ago, the continuation of his active career was open. "Then the Manthey team called me unexpectedly. They said they needed me to get to grips with the new rules," recalls Lietz, "at first I thought it was a joke. But the joke turned serious - and we are very happy together." Logically, Lietz won his fifth GT class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Manthey in 2024.

The Porsche with the number 92 has been in the hands of Richard Lietz for years.

(Bild: Porsche)

The bar is correspondingly high this year. "Of course we'll try to be successful again," nods the Lower Austrian, who has also been a racing driver mentor for Hollywood star Michael Fassbender, "we also have two other good drivers in Ryan Hardwick and Ricardo Pera."

But: "Something has to change for that. We were too far away in the first race." The drivers are not allowed to say anything critical about the balance of performance, i.e. the classification of the cars - but the fact that both Porsche 911s finished 12th and 13th in Qatar does not look like a coincidence. "We didn't make many mistakes in this race," Lietz frowns, "but we didn't need a stopwatch there, we needed a calendar to record our times." Postscript: "If you have a lot of success, others want it too."

Already runner-up this year

However, Lietz already had that this year: "We drove the Asian Le Mans Series in preparation, and we were leading the championship until the last race. But then we got a penalty due to contact at the worst possible time - and finished runner-up."

At just 41 years old, Lietz from Ybbsitz has been a Porsche works driver for almost two decades.

(Bild: Porsche)

Next stop is the 12-hour classic in Sebring, then his eyes are already on Le Mans. It's the 19th start at the Sarthe - isn't the 20th anniversary tempting? "Of course that would be nice, but it's not just up to me. It's a race that I really enjoy driving. But you have to be successful."