With the most class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans of any Porsche driver, Richard Lietz’s name has become synonymous with success. The Austrian driver talks wins, motivation and legacy.
Richard Lietz thought his motorsport career might be over at the end of 2022. With the GTE Pro category ending, and with four Le Mans class wins under his belt, the Austrian was ready to bow out.
Of course, that didn’t happen. After spending 2023 in the European Le Mans Series, he returned to the FIA World Endurance Championship with Manthey for 2024.
Since then, he has added another two GT class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to his tally, including this year, bringing the total to six - making him just the seventh driver to achieve six or more class wins - and they have all come with Porsche.
Lietz, Hardwick and Pera are currently top of the standings for the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Drivers after a “bit up and down” but “very positive” start to the year, and hold a 13 point lead with three rounds remaining.
Lietz joined Porsche in 2007, taking a GT2 win at Le Mans that year, and has claimed victories in series from IMSA to the Asian Le Mans Series. But after almost two decades, why does he think that relationship continues to be so successful?
“First of all, the base is that Porsche is building good cars,” he says, speaking at this year’s 6 Hours of São Paulo, where he continued his WEC campaign with Manthey 1st Phorm alongside Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera.
“For racing, you need a good car, you need a reliable car, and you need teams who buy the cars and are happy to go racing with Porsche. There is no other brand apart from the Italian brand [Ferrari] who has this history in motorsport, and people are keen to invest money and time to go racing on race tracks. I think this is the basics.
“In 2006, I got my first contract with Porsche for 2007, and ever since I have to say it was kind of easy going. It’s a Swabian [region of Germany] company, so they will not stay with you if they have no advantage, this is for sure - all of motorsport is a bit like this.
“But I think as long as they see some benefit for them, and from my side as long as we have success together and it’s coming in a way like it is now where we all have fun, there is no reason to change to be honest. I think we are together quite lucky and also successful.”
Though luck does play a part in endurance racing, Lietz’s success has come from something deeper. When the 41-year-old gets behind the wheel of a Porsche, something special happens. But Lietz credits that as much to his team-mates as to his own talent.
“I think that in motorsport, there are so many parameters to be successful and it’s so easy to not be successful, that definitely it’s not down to one person, the success,” he explains.
“First of all, you need good team-mates, you need a boss who understands people, who understands how to make a team and bring people together. In football, everyone is dreaming of 11 Ronaldos, but 11 Ronaldos could be hard because who is in the goal, who is passing the ball?
“I always had really strong team-mates and we always created a team which trusted each other and is happy if the other one is fast and successful. I think that building a team and then working with a team like Manthey, which started for myself in 2013 and still driving here, is the base for success.
“There is for sure a lot of faster drivers, better drivers, but you have to be in the right time at the right point with the right team-mates, the right tyres, the right set-up, to be successful.
“So I think at the end, I’m very, very lucky, and always somehow with people who appreciate to drive with me and did their best. I never really had bad luck that somebody put me in a team that I was unhappy.”
Of course, some of Lietz’s most notable victories have come at the biggest race of them all: The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 2025 edition marked his 19th entry at the Circuit de la Sarthe, scoring those six wins and three further podiums. He came fourth, narrowly missing out on the rostrum, in an additional three.
From driving the Porsche 997 GT3-RSR on his debut in 2007 with IMSA Performance Matmut, to the Porsche 911 RSR and RSR-19, to now finally the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), Lietz has run thousands of kilometres at the storied French race.
“I think to be on the podium at Le Mans is one of the best feelings in the world,” he says when asked if he could pick a favourite win.
“A lot of them have been very unexpected and definitely the first one. My grandfather [Alfred Lietz], who visited one race in all of my life, was there and we won. He was the biggest Porsche fan in the world, so this was a special one.
“Also it was a French team in France, and even though it was not my national anthem on the podium, seeing my team-mate from France [Raymond Narac] singing together with the fans was a bit emotional. So definitely this was one I will remember for a long time. I would say that this is probably the one I will remember forever.
“But also the end of the Pro era, where I expected that it’s time to stop motorsport, the Pro category ends and this was also a nice way of ending the factory programme back in 2022. It’s difficult to take one but I would say these were the very first one and the one where I expected it would be the last year, was for sure the ones I felt the most satisfaction about.”
While his Le Mans wins have been a career highlight for Lietz, they are not the end of his success.
“The [2015] championship definitely was a highlight, but to be honest there has been so many years and times where I was like this can’t get any better, and it got better,” he says.
“It’s kind of difficult to choose one, to be honest.
“I would say the years 2009 and 2010, together with Marc Lieb in the Felbermayr-Proton car. We got the European Le Mans Series championship in 2009, and then in 2010 we got again the championship plus Le Mans.
“I would say from all the motorsport years this has been the years where I felt the most connected with the brand, the most connected that what we did now was also kind of they cared and it was important for them that we did it.
“It took me from a team with a gentleman driver to the team where the second driver was also a Pro, it was the first time two Pros in one championship in the time as a factory driver. This was on the one hand pressure, and on the other hand okay they respect me and together with Marc, it was good times and good friends.”
Of course, as all drivers know too well, there comes a time to hang up the helmet. Now in his forties, Lietz considered finishing his career when the GTE Pro category ended in 2022, and then he also felt 2023 might be his final season.
But he was tempted back, and he made his WEC return in 2024 after eager Manthey mechanics called him and convinced him to change his mind to drive alongside Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin.
The trio went on to take a class win at Le Mans - “one of the better victories,” Lietz says - and he continued for 2025, albeit with different team-mates and under the 1st Phorm banner.
But after almost two decades, how does Lietz stay enthusiastic, and how much of a part of that is continuing to win?
“First of all, the Manthey team is really focused on winning - they are full pro,” he says. “This is one thing I really enjoy now a bit more than in the past, also with the experience.
“I trust them 100% and to work now with people where you know it’s hard to find any better out there, especially in GT racing, is something which also keeps motivating yourself. A lot of advantages is coming from this team but one disadvantage is it shows weakness.
“If there is a weakness in driving, in braking, in steering, they will tell you. It’s not easy to find excuses. So this is also kind of motivation, that you try to perform and make them happy. Because if they say this is good, you can be sure it was good.”
With so much winning behind him, Lietz’s goals now are simpler - “to make Manthey happy” and to “do a job where they appreciate me being part of the team, and then the success will be automatic”.
“I really want to be champion this year, for sure, it’s going to be difficult, but at the end I am doing it a bit that I am part of this team, my role is to do this, and I do my best that they are happy,” he adds.
With the championship lead in hand heading into the final three rounds, Lietz could once again claim a championship in 2025. But once he has finished racing, how will Lietz reflect on his achievements and his legacy?
“I hope that people will remember me as a nice guy,” he says. “Over the years, I’ve met so many people and I still think I would be happy to see most of them. So if they remember me as a nice guy, who also has got some trophies, I am totally OK with it.”
The FIA World Endurance Championship returns for its sixth round of eight at the Circuit of the Americas’ Lone Star Le Mans in Austin, Texas, on September 7.
