Although 2009 is Austrian Niki Lanik’s first full season in the FIA GT3 European Championship racing with Prospeed Competition,  the 22-year-old has already claimed two 4th place finishes and is a leading contender for the Porsche Manufacturers Cup.  Living in the UK in Sussex Niki chose to pursue a career in saloons and sportscars rather than follow the usual route into single seaters and as one of a new generation of sportscar drivers he is set to reap the rewards of this decision.  Away from the race track Niki’s calendar is pretty full working as a company director, as well as the Youth 4 Human Rights organisation.  When he does get some time for himself he enjoys all forms of extreme sports, so what makes this young Austrian tick?

Q: How are you enjoying your first season in FIA GT3?
NL: “I’m enjoying it very much.  This is my first season in sportscars; I did a test at the beginning of the season in an Aston Martin and from this test I decided to go the sportscar route.  I’ve always wanted to race at Spa and Le Mans in the 24 Hour races.  I had been looking at Touring Cars but I wanted to make that step into faster and more unique sort of racing and I decided that the GT route was the correct one for me.  A few years ago I used to read about FIA GT in the magazines and I thought then that it would be cool to race in that championship and here I am.”

Q: “Why did you decide to race in GTs rather than single seaters?
NL: “To be honest at my age I thought I was already too old to race in single seaters and I’m only 22, but that isn’t really the thing.  The real reason is when I was young I was into rally driving.  I used to watch Colin McRae and the rest of the guys, I bought all the videos and DVDs from the 1980s and my goal was to do the WRC (World Rally Championship).  When I was 15 I wrote a letter to Brands Hatch asking to go on their rally course but they said no because I was too young but you can go to Silverstone and do a Formula Ford course.  So when I was 16 I did that with a friend, which got me my race licence which led to some normal races.  I looked around and found the 750 Motor Club Stock Hatch was cheap to run, so me and my friend raised a bit of money and we ran two cars.  So that put me into the circuit racing side.  I enjoyed the Formula Ford but I think we took Stock Hatch because it was cheaper; Formula Ford was around £40,000 at that time.”

Q: “What came after Stock Hatch?”
NL: “I then moved onto Clios and that came about after a Stock Hatch test at Snetterton. We ran into these guys with pink hats and we asked what this was all about, they said they were with Colin Stancombe and he’s the expert.  We found that our cars weren’t set up right, so we were racing in the mid field. We took the cars to Colin Stancombe and he fixed the faults and the next race I was challenging for the lead.  I was pushed off before the end but the point is I met Colin through that and I found out he was running cars in the Clio Cup.  A year after I tested the Clio, as it took me a while to get everything together and then I did some races for him.  I did the old Clio and then the Winter Championship, which I won, then the new Clio came out and it is a very competitive series with about 40 entries.  That was really mad but very competitive with some top drivers and was a big learning curve for me, I had some top 10 finishes but it was hard to get on the podium.  I followed this with another winter series in the new car, which I won, and then last year entered the full championship, scoring 4 podiums and 2 poles; ending the season in 5th place overall.”

Q: “So this year is a step up from Clios, how are you finding the Porsche?”
NL: “It hasn’t been easy but we had a good race in the Spa 24-Hours, gaining a podium in the G3 Class.  I spent a lot of time at the gym with my trainer, doing weights and other exercises between the last GT3 race at Oschersleben and Spa, so I got a lot stronger, a lot fitter.  I also seemed to get on with the track well, I walked it two weeks before the race, I played on the video game, as you do, and the team gave me a 40-page analysis of a lap of Spa.  So by the time I got there I was as prepared as I could be.  Also my co-driver Markus Palttala had done about ten Spa 24-Hour races and we just got on really well.  I did a couple of laps and after some dry running I was 0.7 seconds off Markus, so I thought ‘OK’.  There wasn’t as much pressure because it was all about finishing the race.  I do operate under pressure but because there wasn’t much it went really well, I just drove and drove and drove and I put together some good laps.  It was my first 24 hour race, at Spa apparently one of the darkest tracks, which by the way I really liked.  The team made me start the race, which was a nerve wrecking experience and then we were on slicks in the rain.  At one point I said I was coming in for wets and they just ignored me, so I stayed out and I brought it in after an hour and a half and we were actually in first.  It was a great experience.”

Q: “So what do you enjoy doing when not behind the wheel of a race car?”
NL: “When I was young I was always into BMXing and other extreme sports.  I would watch the X Games, skateboarding and getting chased by the police!  I still enjoy all that stuff; I go skateboarding every few months in Crawley or London.  When I travel I definitely go snowboarding, I love going for a week or two outside of the race season and I’m going for New Year again.  I’ve just started wakeboarding, so anything on the extreme side of sports – anything with one board and two feet, that’s what I like.  I’d like to try base jumping but I haven’t found the time yet.  I like the gym, chilling out with friends, which is very important. My main focus is becoming a professional race driver and working for a manufacture at some point in the future, however i am as well as being a race driver getting fit, staying fit and working with Justin (Keen), I’m also a Director of a commercial property business, so I do keep busy.  I love working hard, getting up early, working the whole day and then getting to bed around midnight, then starting again the next day.  I am very much a career driven person.”

Q: “So where do you live in the UK?”
NL: “Near Gatwick airport so it is very easy fly to the places I need to be.

Q: “So how much time do you spend in the UK and how much at home in Austria?”
NL: “I only spend a few weeks a year in Austria, mainly to see family at Christmas, New Year, and to do some snowboarding.  I travel a lot for my racing and, with the testing, this takes up a lot of time.  I also travel for the Human Rights activities and since July I’ve been home in the UK for about 15 days, though I did manage to get a short holiday as well.  I don’t really like holidays because I usually get really, really bored; I need to have access to the internet to do something.  I’ve just come back from the Human Rights summit in Geneva, which was very important and interesting.”

Q: “How and why did you get involved with Youth for Human Rights?
NL: “I went to London three or four years ago with some friends, who introduced me to some other friends and one of them was a movie director from Los Angeles.  In 1948 the United Nations set out the 30 human rights and what he had done was to make a video for each single human right.  You show the video to anyone, it doesn’t matter what language you speak, it gets subtitled in every country and it’s for human rights education awareness campaign.  So I thought that’s cool so I emailed him to say I liked what they were doing and offered to help.  And that’s how I started with the Clio Cup races.  I got a few volunteers to give out booklets and DVDs and I started to go to some Human Rights events, mainly in England but more international now and in November I’m doing a Barbados, Columbia and Mexico City tour.  We’re doing a launch in Columbia, it’s very new there and they really need it.  I run the logo on the race car and I do fund raising as well, so I’m very active in that because I think people could live better a better life.”

Q: “And what about the other drivers in the Youth for Human Rights Race Team?”
NL: “Andrew Chalmers and I actually started the group, we have a website and the other guys I met through the internet or at races and they are all based in the UK except Kyle (Kosir) who is in Canada.  We have a party for about 100 people once a year to get together to discuss things and we play the 30 rights video playing on a home movie screen and then you have a race clip from one of the team and then another.  People just sit and watch it and two of the guys asked to have the sticker on their car after that.  We’re trying to get some more drivers because it is a lot of fun.”

Niki Lanik will be back on the race circuit in the Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S for Rounds 9 & 10 of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship at Paul Ricard HTT in the South of France on Saturday 3rd October and Sunday 4th October.

For more information on Niki Lanik and Youth for Human Rights visit www.nikilanik.com

Niki Lanik is managed by Rapid Man Limited, for more information visit www.rapidman.co.uk