Niki comments: “After having looked at the data of my Practise 1 laps, and getting a pair of new tyres, I went quicker straight away, and ended Practice 2 as 15th fastest out of 36 other cars with my team mate. Qualifying should be good tomorrow, I just need to make sure I get 2 quick laps in after my warm up / out lap.”
Niki comments: “It didn’t go to well. I’ve only had 30-40 laps in the Porsche, and it is completely different to drive than anything else I’ve driven before. Running on old tyres was also not of much use. My team mate, Bart, and I were near the back of the field. We will change the set-up a little bit, put on some newer tyres, and study the data analysis before going out for practice session 2.”
Title: European FIA GT3
Location: SILVERSTONE, UK
Description: Practice, Qualifying, Round 1 & 2 of the European FIA GT3 Championship.
Start Date: 2009-05-01
Start Time: 09:00
End Date: 2009-05-03
End Time: 18:00
“ProSpeed Competition is also entering two cars in the FIA GT3, namely the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S bearing start number #11 for the young Austrian Niki Lanik (22), up until now mainly competing in the British Clio Cup, and the Belgian old-hand and Belgian GT champion 2007 Bart Couwberghs (43). The car with start number #12 is in the hands of the former Belgian Porsche Supercup driver Geoffroy Horion (35) and in-house driver David Loix (35), who will also be competing in the 24 Hours of Spa and Zolder with ProSpeed Competition.”
READ FULL PRESS RELEASE:
English: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_04_30_preview_3_en.pdf
Nederlands: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_04_30_preview_3_nl.pdf
Français: http://prospeed.be/communiques/2009_04_30_preview_3_fr.pdf
NIKI Lanik, Austrian race driver, made his GT debut today, on Saturday 2nd May 2009, at Silverstone GP racing circuit (Northamptonshire). The double UK Clio Winter Champion has decided to move up from tin-top racing into GTs. For 2009 Niki is racing with a Belgium-based and official Porsche-supported race team – Prospeed Competition. The 22-year-old was invited down to Algarve (Portugal) at the end of April by team boss, Mr Rudi Penders, to test the brand new Porsche Cup S-spec racing car. (more…)
Niki comments: “It was not looking good at all for my 2009 racing career. It was beginning of April and I was starting to worry whether I will even be racing this season. In February and March I had several options to compete in British GT and a few other GT series in other countries, but none of these were really what I wanted to do. Most championships in England and in Europe had started between mid-March and mid-April, and I was still at home not sure what was going to happen.”
“Towards the end of March I signed a contract with Justin Keen - he is now my official and exlusive driver manager and driver coach. He raced for Lister Storm in the GT1 and LMP1 class for several years. He called me up on a Saturday and told me that we need to be in Portugal the following Wednesday to test a Porsche 997 Cup S with a Beglian-based race team. I did not receive more information about the test, and we simply booked some flights and made our ways to Faro in soutern Portugal.”
“I met the team on Tuesday the 15th April at the brand new Algarve race circuit. I got a quick tour of the Porsche 997 Cup S and the team, and I was soon out on wets on a drying circuit. The car had 460hp and weighed around 1,170Kg … it was quick. I certainly did not expect it to nearly pull 3-Gs in teh fast corners once the track dried and I had full slicks all around.”
“The team runs several GT3 and GT2 Porsches in the FIA GT Championship, and are extremely professional and had the cars set-up spot on.”
“Justin and I will be visiting them in Liege next week, and we will see how we progress from there.”
AUSTRIAN racing driver, Niki Lanik, who lives in Ashurst Wood in West Sussex, successfully tested a Seat Leon Supercopa cup car at Castle Combe near Bristol. Despite having to learn a new track and car, the 21-year-old set a series of top lap times through out his two 30-minute sessions in the afternoon, only just behind the 2008 Spanish Seat Champion. Race-winning Niki Lanik, currently having not made a career decision for 2009, is considering competing in the Seat Leon Supercopa Championship – a new UK-based championship with Seat touring car-equivalent race cars and value for money. (more…)
NIKI Lanik, 21-year old Austrian, tested a GT4-spec N24 Aston Martin Vantage this Monday at Kent’s famous Brands Hatch racing circuit. Having done over two years in a competitive one-make series, the UK Clio Cup (winning the 2006 & 2007 Winter Titles, having secured many top results and pole positions through out the summer and winter seasons), Niki Lanik has the option to make the move up the racing ladder into national and international GT racing. (more…)
21-year-old Clio Cup Hot Shoe, Niki Lanik, tested for Team RSA last week at Snetterton racing circuit in Norfolk. Race-winning Team RSA and championship-winning Niki Lanik have the potential to take on the Belgium racers and battle for the championship.
IT was the first time that Austrian-born Niki had an opportunity to drive a Clio Cup car since October 2008. After the first session, Lanik acclimatised to running in the European specification car. The Belgian Clio Cup race car is practically the same as the UK-spec car, but with a different set-up. These cup cars are built by Renaultsport in France, and are powered by 210 horsepower 2.0 Litre engines, driven through a 6-speed sequential racing gearbox and a limited slip differential. (more…)
AUSTRIAN race driver, Niki Lanik promoting the international Youth For Human Rights campaign, finished off his season in the 2008 ELF Clio Cup with 2 pole positions, a 2nd and 3rd place finish last weekend at the famous Brands Hatch racing circuit in Kent. Despite 4 non-finishes at the beginning of the season, the Miracle Drywash-sponsored team finished in the top 5 overall with 4 podium finishes and many more top 6 finishes. The Clio Cup, acting as a support race to the British Touring Car Championship, attracted 20,000 spectators and was filmed by ITV4 bringing huge coverage around the five million mark per season.
LANIK was already on top of the time sheets on Friday’s test day, being 3rd quickest on old tyres in the first session, and 1st quickest in the second session with a pair of new slicks. 21-year old Niki went out for the 30 minute qualifying session on Saturday noon, setting decent lap times with older tyres, being only 0.012 seconds off pole position. Niki then had two sets of brand new slicks and put in 3 laps under the 53-second mark making him the quickest driver and securing pole position by over 0.152 seconds in front of double-Clio Cup champion, Paul Rivett. “The car felt great, and I really felt like I had the pace today, and that definitely showed as I’ve qualifed on pole for both rounds!” commented Niki on his quick times.
