At 4pm on the 25th July Austrian driver Niki Lanik took his place on the grid and waited for the lights to go out to signal the start of his first Total Spa 24 hrs race.

Qualifying had began dry but after only three laps the heavens opened and qualifying continued in heavy rain.

Niki’ls qualifying had been hindered by brake problems from the start which unfortunately meant Niki missing the dry track opportunity. This resulted in Niki’s lead Prospeed GT3 car starting on the last row of the grid! (more…)

“Lanik misses top 10 finish”

“NIKI Lanik endured a frustrating weekend in the GT3 European championship round at Oschersleben Germany. The 22-year-old from Ashurst Wood took time with his co-driver Greek Dimitris Deverikos to adapt to the circuit, Lanik finishing 23rd in the qualifying sessions in the ProSpeed Porsche.”

“The first race ended on the track, but one day later we drove a strong race climbing to 11th which is not a bad result on such a difficult and technical track, ” Lanik reflected.

Read more on www.thisiseastgrinstead.co.uk

“In FIA GT3 one Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S in the colours of ProSpeed Competition was on the entry list, with the Greek Dimitris Deverikos and the Austrian Niki Lanik at the wheel. “Both drivers needed some time to become acquainted with the circuit, resulting in Niki finishing in 23rd place in the qualifying sessions, with Dimitris registering 25th spot”, Marc Maton, the GT3-teammanager for ProSpeed Competition told us running through the qualifying results sheets.”

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE:
English: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_06_21_review_Oschersleben_EN.pdf
Nederlands: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_06_21_review_Oschersleben_NL.pdf
Français: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_06_21_review_Oschersleben_FR.pdf

Niki comments: “I got in 4-5 quick laps but was not able to qualify better than 23rd.  I was loosing a little bit of time everywhere, but on two specific corner I was loosing a large junk of time.”

“My team mate, Dimitris Deverikos, qualified 25th.”

“We are currently really struggling with the track. The two races will be a challenge and we have a lot of work to do!”

Niki comments: “I had quite a tough day. Oschersleben is difficult track to learn, so I was 3 or so seconds off the pace in today’s practise. I had difficulty finding pace and was trying to follow cars. Nevertheless I feel quite confident in the two races this weekend.”

“It’s very typical to only get 15 or so laps in practise and I still have a lot to learn to be able to get used to the car and learn the circuit within such a short time period. Lucky my team mate for this weekend, Dimitris Deverikos, had raced on this circuit a few years ago.”

Practise 1 - CLICK HERE

Practise 2 - CLICK HERE

Title: European FIA GT3
Location: OSCHERSLEBEN, GERMANY
Description: Practice, Qualifying, Round 5 & 6 of the European FIA GT3 Championship.
Start Date: 2009-06-19
Start Time: 09:00
End Date: 2009-06-21
End Time: 18:00

“In FIA GT3 the Greek Dimitris Deverikos will be heading up the Belgian team. In the past Deverikos has claimed a few podium places with Porsche in FIA GT3 and will be out on the prowl with Niki Lanik to win a first podium place for ProSpeed Competition in FIA GT3.”

READ FULL PRESS RELEASE:
English: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_06_17_preview_Oschersleben_EN.pdf
Nederlands: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_06_17_preview_Oschersleben_NL.pdf
Français: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_06_17_preview_Oschersleben_FR.pdf

Niki Lanik is turning more than a few heads as he switches to international racing this season.

The double Winter UK Clio Cup champion believes he is where he needs to be to develop his racing portfolio and prove he has what it takes to be one of the best. At just 22 he has bucketloads of experience under his belt, but securing a drive with the Liege-based ProSpeed Competition team in the demanding GT3 Championship is a make or break move for him. (more…)

NIKI’S LAP GUIDE TO MAGNY-COURS IN A PORSCHE 997 GT3 CUP S:

“You are in 5th gear coming up to the first corner, Grande Courbe. This is a very committing corner and you have to tap the brakes and let the car go fast in and slide to the edge of the track - letting the aero push the car to the floor. Once you straighten the wheel the road drops away and you are braking hard and shifting down to 4th gear as you are turning into Estoril. This is a very long dipped right hander. You have to get on the throttle very early there as the straight after this is very long.” (more…)

PRESS RELEASE FROM CO-ART PUBLICATIONS LTD (http://auto.coart.de/)

(READ FULL PRESS RELEASE ON: http://auto.coart.de/News/Niki-Lanik-GT-Rennfahrer)

Der 22-jährige Niki Lanik ist gebürtiger Österreicher und lebt jetzt in Sussex, England.

Seine Liebe gehört dem Rennsport. Und dort hat er sich jetzt eine erfolgversprechende neue Ausgangsbasis geschaffen, indem er Rennen fährt in der Europäischen FIA GT3 Meisterschaft mit der Firma Prospeed Competition (www.prospeed.be). Niki gewann 2006 und 2007 die Clio Cup Winter Meisterschaft und war ein Spitzenrenner im Clio Cup 2008.

“Da Niki aussieht wie ein Surfer, könnte man meinen, er sollte mit seinen Sachen eher an einem Strand entlang stolzieren als in den englischen Fahranlagen herumzuwandern, aber glücklicherweise liegt sein Talent im Autofahren - was er bereits unter Beweis gestellt hat mit seinem zweiten Sieg in der Winter Serie, welche ihn zum ersten Fahrer machen, der zwei Winter Serien hintereinander gewonnen hat.” - Nat Lewis