Porsche racing around the globe with Jono Lester

It’s a nice way to end the year; driving a racing car.

In 2009, I haven’t really done it all that much. My last official ‘race’ was in April when I won the Hamilton 400 Trophy, and since I’ve been itching to drive whatever I can.

I’ve spent a good portion of this time as a test driver for Juno Racing New Zealand with their new Synergy V8-powered sports car, but insofar as Porsche racing goes, there’s been very little.

That very little however, has meant a hell of a lot.

I’ve aligned myself with the very successful Lechner Racing Team and in July had a two-day test at the Hungaroring, which put me in line for the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup after setting some really competitive times and working well with the team’s experienced engineers.

Again, this past fortnight, I’ve been up in Bahrain for some more testing with the team; this time developing the new 2010 Porsche GT3 Cup car which will be used in the Supercup next season.

As from the last 997 upgrade in 2008, this car is a cut above any Cup Car ever made. The response of the steering and engine; the noticeable increases in torque and power; the more docile yet more refined rear end with the giant rear wing – all of this has contributed to a very special race car.

To be one of the first in the world to steer one was a genuine pleasure for me.

My entry for the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has been lodged and I’m proud to be a part of the Lechner Racing Team with its passionate and hard-working mechanics and engineers, and a really positive and focussed team environment.

There’s still a budget to find, but isn’t that always the case with motorsport? I couldn’t have really picked a worse time to be money-hunting given the economic climate, however that won’t curb my enthusiasm and drive to make this happen.

I can see this being my one shot at making a career out of professional motorsport in Europe. I’ve gotta take it with both hands!

The weather’s great back here in NZ – believe it or not it rained more in Bahrain that it has here in the last two or three months! I’m really looking forward to heading up to the beach with my girlfriend, family and friends over the Xmas break for some brief R&R before heading full-steam into an exciting 2010.

See you all there!

Jono

I’ve just completed my best race event ever.

Now, if you look at the results then you may struggle to see how exactly this can be, but the reasoning is simple.

The final round of the 2008/09 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge at Pukekohe was a breath of fresh air. I went into the event with a purpose – to secure third place in the championship – and even when this wasn’t achieved, I still left the circuit on Sunday night 100% satisfied with what had taken place.

I got through Friday practice without a hitch and confident of what the car would bring on new tyres. I quickly found in qualifying on Saturday morning that we were on the right track, and I put the car in third on the grid behind Baird and Reynolds who, to be perfectly honest, put in some magnificent driving to break into the 56-second barrier and put themselves just a little out of reach.

Even so, we had a great race car to work with.

In race one I made a strong getaway off the line and latched onto the front pairing for the duration of the race. Only when I made one small error at the hairpin did the gap increase, and I crossed the line within two seconds of the leaders – the chasing pack some way back in the distance.

The way I was able to attack the bumpy Pukekohe track with absolutely no fear was a tremendous rush, and I spent all of Saturday night contemplating how to go even quicker the next day.

This is where it may seem a little weird that I was still pleased with my weekend, as the second race ended at the first corner. I was hit in the rear by my closest rival for the final championship podium position, and sent spinning off the circuit at high speed. I limped back to the pits with a broken wheel and was forced to retire soon after.

Now, the chances of finishing in third in the championship were gone, yet strangely I was still buoyant. The bigger picture was still much more important. While I didn’t condone what happened, nor was I the least bit impressed about it, I still knew we had struck a ’sweet spot’ in the car this weekend that would remain with us from that point onward.

It was this knowledge that excited me so much about the 16-lap final race, which I was to start from the rear of the grid. I chipped away at the field as the race went on, using the strengths of the car to attack corners where the opposition were struggling, and made it up to fifth by the chequered flag. The pace was evident on the time sheets – only 3/1000ths of a second separated the race winner Baird and I. And so without a podium once again, I left the race track in a curious state.

Even I was surprised by it – the pressure; the focus; the hunger to win still dominated this weekend like any other, but the big picture was more important, and I’m waiting with baited breath for the Hamilton 400 in a few weeks time. I think we’re really onto something here. More so than ever before.

I must apologise for being a little vague in my summary. Of course finishing fourth overall wasn’t what I expected after such a strong start to the season, but those who have followed it will know that things have gone the ’other way’ on one too many occasions. I’m not interested in dwelling on them anymore – the future as it stands is looking much too bright and exciting. We have some potentially very fruitful opportunities over the horizon and my support base are all behind me more so now than they have ever been, despite the tough times we all know are upon us.

And at Pukekohe, everything that was within our control went like clockwork. The preparation couldn’t be faulted, and as a driver I felt so at one with that car and with myself that I could have lapped around that circuit all day and night.

This won’t be my last blog for a while – Hamilton is still to come as are a whole lot of other bits and pieces before November rolls around again for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge round four.

So keep an eye out, and take good care!

Jono

Hi all, It’s been quite some time since my last blog post, so there’s a fair bit to catch up on!

I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year break with friends and family before rocking into a solid month of motorsport right across January, with a triple header in the Porsche and my debut race in the Juno SSE-NZ sports car to round it off.

First on the agenda was a return to Timaru. Last time I lapped here my season ended in the back on an ambulance, and while this time around it wasn’t quite as dramatic, I still had to fight for results as has so often become the case in this season’s Porsche series.

Much like at Ruapuna I was on the receiving end of the officialdom early on, being thrown off the back of the grid for the race one after “breaking traction” as I exited pit lane during qualifying, effectively ruining our chances there and then.

The weekend itself was a downhill ride with a sharp spike at the finish. I quickly made my way into eighth in race one before suffering a DNF when two cars made contact in front of me and a concertina effect ensued, damaging my radiator and forcing me to shut the car down.

The second race was slightly better and, starting from eleventh, I passed a number of cars in the opening laps to latch onto the leading train in sixth spot, where I finished, but it was the feature race where we regained some lost momentum.

Starting in third, I made a solid start and followed David Reynolds through on Daniel Gaunt part-way through the race. Reynolds had incredible pace and I was able to latch onto him and pull a small gap on Baird in third, before succumbing to my tyres and settling for second position. A great recovery, nonetheless.

Unfortunately this was as good as the South Island got, as the next weekend in Invercargill was a real battle. I got very little testing with a clutch problem and qualified very averagely, and the opening race, held in the twilight on Saturday evening, was a nightmare.

I made the call to start the race on wet tyres with changeable weather hampering the day’s proceeding, but it proved to be the wrong choice, and I finished three laps down on the leaders after having to pit, like a number of my team mates, part-way through the 30-lap race.

I finished in sixth in race two from grid nine, and started off the front row for the feature race. After being hit off the track on the opening lap I dropped to sixth where once again I finished to round off a harsh weekend for my points situation. I had now dropped to fourth overall.

A quick visit to Dr. Kerry Spackman on my arrival home helped me put my mind back on track, and at the Taupo A1GP the following weekend the driving followed suit.

It was great to get back onto the Taupo track in awesome weather conditions, and with Matt Halliday as my co-driver to offer setup advice and a very fast and experienced pair of hands, the stage was set for a great event.

Both Matt and I headed our respective practice and qualifying session, where I set the fastest lap time of the weekend outright, in preparation for a sprint race each, and two 50-minute, two-driver endurance races to spice up proceedings on both Saturday and Sunday.

I made a great getaway in the opening race before breaking the left-rear concentric arm on the opening lap. The car became highly unstable, especially down the straights and under brakes, and my lap times dropped off by around four seconds a lap, however I kept at it (albeit carefully) to take third position and keep our hopes alive for the first enduro.

This proved to be a fairytale, as Matt conserved his tyres amicably in his opening stint, and a tremendous pit stop by the International Motorsport crew put us out around 15 seconds ahead of Jonny Reid in second.

In the following laps I stretched this out to twenty nine seconds, which became twenty four as we crossed the finish line after Matt was deemed to have crept at the start of the race.

In a similar scenario to Saturday’s events, Matt struggled to second behind Shane van Gisbergen in the morning sprint, but once again the endurance race went 100% according to plan.

The battle between Matt, Jody Vincent and van Gisbergen in the opening laps was scintillating, with the trio rarely covered by more than a handkerchief, but once again our pit stop work put us out over ten second in front, and I led the field home by seventeen seconds for the second win from two.

It was a tremendous weekend and a credit to the work put in by both Matt and I and the whole team behind the scenes, and I speak for many when I say it would be really great to see more of this format of racing in the championship proper in the future.

Returning to Taupo once again the following weekend, I was behind the wheel of the Juno SSE-NZ sportscar I was testing in the run up to Christmas.

The car was entered in the New Zealand Sports Car Series, where 25-cars of all varieties, including a handful of Radicals and another Juno, but it was the day glow orange Juno that set the pace.

I put the car on pole by quite a margin and won the first two races of the weekend by thirty two and twenty three seconds respectively. The car really is quite something and the use of ground effects and proper downforce make it really exciting to drive.

The final race was a reverse grid handicap, and I started in pit lane about a lap and a half down on the leaders. In the six laps I had I clawed up to eleventh spot, within two corners of the winners, and capped off a great weekend to showcase the talents and potential of the Juno cars.

After a month away my fitness has taken a bit of a hit, but the wonderful weather has meant that alternative training (such as getting dragged behind a boat at breakneck speed!) is making up a good part of my days and summer can stay for the rest of the year in my opinion.

Manfeild’s next up in three weekend’s time. A return to my other home track will be great. I have a good feeling about it.

Until then, take care everyone! And remember to visit www.jonolester.com!

Jono

Hi all, a slightly longer one today.

There aren’t many events that I could put on a similar pedestal to my horror weekend at Timaru earlier this year, but Ruapuna came pretty close.

There was no damage, no broken bones; no looks of scorn or resentment aimed in my direction – but we felt well and truly robbed. After such an awesome start at Pukekohe a few weeks before, to see round two pan out the way it did was a real shock to the system.

The weekend was always going to be an uphill sprint after troubles in testing, but we soldiered on nonetheless. What we lacked on Friday we found in qualifying as I put the car on the second row alongside Daniel Gaunt, but even then there was something not quite right; a mysterious fuel surge issue that would pop up at random intervals and cause me to second guess whether it was all in my head. At this stage, it wasn’t that noticeable, but it would only get worse as we rolled into racing.

My biggest handicap in race one was not the car but a drive through penalty I was slapped with at the mid way point. Up until then I had been in a battle with the front pack of cars, tucked in behind Jody Vincent, who I got past before having to serve my penalty and rejoin to finish eighth.

I was deemed to be using more road than any other car on the circuit (taking a “shortcut”) yet, looking at the footage, every other driver out there was running in the wheel tracks of those around them. Our questioning of the penalty wasn’t an excuse to whinge – more a question of why one driver should be singled out or made an example of.

This issue aside, we still had two more races to get through, and in the second I didn’t fare much better, running in the front pack of cars before the car began coughing and dying far more severely than it had in qualifying. As the cars in front edged away, I was left to pick up the pieces in seventh spot, where I would start for the feature race finale.

It started well. I made a superb start and jumped into the top five by turn one, and after the banging and crashing and jostling had subsided found myself in second, chasing down David Reynolds in the lead.

The car felt sweet; no hiccups, no lack of power – nothing. I began closing in lap by lap and maintaining the gap to Craig Baird in behind until the ghost appeared for another spooking.

For five to six laps the problem got progressively worse with the sensation of turning off the key, then turning it back on again as I exited medium-speed corners. The gap to Reynolds grew to over five seconds, and by that stage Bairdo had passed me also. Settled into third I was instructed to “bring her home”, which I did, but when the fuel pressure zeroed itself on nearly every corner on the final lap, I was just worried about getting to the finish line!

Low and behold I managed to bag enough points to finish just off the podium in fourth for the round, which was a nice consolation for a weekend of frustration.

The underlying issue with the car – whatever it is – will, as always, turn out to be something simple and straightforward. This is a Porsche we are talking about after all!

There’s six weeks to regroup and ensure the car is right for Timaru, so on a more positive note, I was able to take time out to hang with a few of the Project KPH kids at Ruapuna, as I did at Pukekohe, showing them through the car and making sure the brave little battlers had a great day out. Leah Evans does a great job with the organisation and is deserved of any support that can be offered. Check out Project KPH here.

Also, we won the Hyper Stimulator Enduro! It was a long race, (24 hours in fact) around Bathurst in the Audi R8 Prototypes, but Alastair Wootten, Gene Rollinson and I took it out, albeit by less than a lap! We had stiff competition from the Hyper Stimulator League car throughout and it was a fun event – one that I’d certainly consider doing again if more drivers were involved for added competition.

Before I sign off for, if you’ve missed any of the action from the Pukekohe round of the GT3s, or the early races at Ruapuna, you can check them out at TVNZ On Demand here right throughout the championship.

Remember to visit jonolester.com.

Keep safe and see you at the track,

Jono

Hi all,

It’s been a little while since I last blogged, and I’ve been busy continuing preparations for the new season, which is now less than a month away.

Speedshow went down without a hitch. Blackwoods Paykels really pulled out all the stops, with a mammoth 15-metre long exhibitors stand showcasing the best of JBS tools. The accompanying giveaways, competitions, merchandising and of course the 997 in its new livery, made it a real asset to the show as a whole.

I spent the majority of both Saturday and Sunday at the show, scooting between the Blackwoods Paykels exhibit and a number of appearances elsewhere within the complex, the first of which was a 4-car showdown at the Hyper Stimulator stand, smack bang in the middle of the Speedshow “simulator zone”.

Here, Paul Radisich (former WTCC champion), John McIntyre (two-time NZV8 champion), Daniel Gaunt (2006 NZGP winner) and myself each teamed up with a radio DJ and a radio listener in a three-driver, ten lap V8 Supercar race around Bathurst – driver changes and all. It was great fun, and my team, which happened to include a jovial Darcy Waldegrave, came away with the spoils, with Dan’s team a very close second. For his trouble, the lucky radio listener took home a $2,000 wheel and tyre package, so congratulations to him for that.

Other activities included facing off in gymkhanas along with the Mini 7 Club of New Zealand – John McIntyre and Angus Fogg included – and I was able to sneak off for a look around the show as well. There was some impressive machinery and innovative technology on display, and I look forward to being a part of it again next year.

Soon after the Speedshow weekend wrapped up it was into our two-day test at Taupo, where Daniel Gaunt, Matt Halliday, Darryn Henderson and myself looked to shake off the dust and get back into race mode for the upcoming season. For dad and I it gave us a great opportunity to experiment quite drastically with setup. Some things worked, some didn’t, and as each day concluded, Gaunt, Halliday and myself were separated by a hair’s breath. Throw the XXX squad and the remainder of International Motorsport into the mix, and it’s going to be a very competitive fight for victory come Pukekohe.

The package for the new season
I must extend a big thanks to Greg, Michelle and the team at Chicane Clothing, for whipping out my stunning new white suit in only 24-hours, meaning it was not only on display at Speedshow, but ready for the photo shoot in Taupo for the Blackwoods Paykels season poster, and other promotional material.

Last weekend was a lazy one for all I feel, and with good reason – Bathurst. It was great to see Murph, Jason and the Tasman Motorsport team tasting some of the success they deserve after a tough year, and those final few laps, post-safety car, were the definition of  “edge of your seat” sport.

Also, a couple of notable links for you to check out. Firstly, I have a YouTube channel which you can access at http://www.youtube.com/user/JonoLester51 , which has a whole lot of race footage from over the past couple of seasons, other television appearances and the like. I hope to have some Aussie stuff in there soon, however at this stage I’m yet to get my hands on much footage from across the ditch. Also, alongside my blogging at Driver Database I am uploading press releases and thoughts on WordPress at http://jonolester51.wordpress.com, for those of you who are aware of the sites. Enjoy!

Jono