Jono Lester

Jono Lester
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	(1989-12-08) 8 December 1989 Palmerston North (New Zealand)
Australian GT Championship career
Debut season	2015
Current team	Trass Family Motorsport
Car no.	27
Former teams	PETRONAS Syntium Team
Starts	11
Wins	0
Poles	4
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	5th in 2015
Previous series
2013/2012 2012 2010 2006-2009 2008	Super Taikyu Endurance Series Toyota Racing Series Porsche Supercup Porsche GT3 Cup NZ Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Formula First New Zealand
Championship titles
2013 2007-2009 2005	NZ Endurance Champion NZ Time Attack Champion NZ Formula Challenge Champion
Awards
2010 2008 2007	Porsche AG Junior Scholarship President's Scholarship The Steel Trophy Elite Motorsport Academy

Jono Lester (born 8 December 1989) is a racing car driver from New Zealand that started competitive motor racing at a relatively young age.

Career

Family Heritage

Born in Palmerston North, Lester is a third generation driver who grew up in motorsport with National Champion drivers in his grandfather Rob, father Richard and Aunt Debbie.

Rob and grandmother Wendy pioneered the build and running of the Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding, Manawatu from 1973 to 2003; during which time Rob became a multiple New Zealand Formula Vee Champion and Jim Clark Trophy winner. To this day he is still the winningest driver in the category and its oldest National champion, claiming his last title in 1995 at age 59.

Eldest children Richard and Debbie won the 1986 New Zealand Endurance Championship together and both were front runners in Formula Vee and Formula Ford. Richard was also a Gold Star winner in Formula Pacific.

Richard's career evolved into race driver coaching at the helm of the Shell Scholarship programme, which launched the career of Greg Murphy and the late Ashley Stitchbury. Other notable names to work with Lester include former Jaguar Racing F1 driver Luciano Burti and 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Stephane Ortelli.

New Zealand: 2003-2009

Lester began competing at age 13 in the New Zealand Formula First Championship, completing the 2003/04 and 2004/05 series' before transitioning to Formula Challenge, winning the 2014 Summer Series and placing third in the 2015 Winter Series.

Lester then made the jump at 16 into the Porsche GT3 Cup, becoming the world's youngest competitor in a Porsche Carrera Cup series. Lester finished 4th overall in the 2006/07 championship behind Craig Baird, Matt Halliday and Fabian Coulthard; becoming the youngest ever winner of a Porsche Cups race in March 2007 at Timaru International Motor Raceway, aged 17 years and three months.

Lester continued competing in the Porsche GT3 Cup for two more seasons, scoring numerous wins including the Hamilton 400 and Taupo A1GP Trophy events in 2009.

During the period from 2003 to 2009 Lester also competed in New Zealand with success in the HQ Holdens, Endurance racing and become a three-time New Zealand Time Attack Champion.

Europe: 2009-2010

A partial stint in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship in 2008 was followed by a period based in Faistenau, Austria with Porsche Supercup Champion team Walter Lechner Racing. Lester tested successfully at the Hungaroring before relocating to Bahrain to develop the MY2010 Porsche GT3 Cup Car with Porsche at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Lester was invited as one of twelve hand-picked drivers vying for a Porsche Motorsport Talent Scholarship at Vallelunga,^[1] Italy in 2010. Lester impressed the Porsche AG bosses and was awarded a scholarship, granting him an entry onto the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup grid for the Monza Grand Prix event, where he finished 13th in a record grid of 32 cars.

New Zealand: 2011-2013

Lester represented New Zealand at the 2011 World Time Attack Challenge at Sydney's Eastern Creek circuit, driving a Mitsubishi Evo VIII for Team RevolutioNZ.

A risky foray into open wheel racing for the 2012 Toyota Racing Series paid off for Lester, scoring a podium at the season opener for ETEC Motorsport and completing a testing induction into wings and slicks racing which led to a two-year contract racing for the PETRONAS Syntium Team in Japan.^[2]

In between Japanese events Lester still competed in New Zealand for the Fastway Racing team, becoming the 2013 New Zealand Endurance Champion driving a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car. He also competed in the V8 SuperTourers Endurance Series in both 2012 and 2013 for John McIntyre Racing, scoring two podium finishes.

Japan: 2012-2013

Lester's international career took off with the PETRONAS Syntium Team, driving the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 in the Super Taikyu Series. Based in Japan, the series also visited Korea with Lester finishing second overall in both the 2012 and 2013 Championships scoring two wins, six podiums, five pole positions, three fastest laps and two lap records.

The PETRONAS Syntium Team dissolved at the end of the 2013 season, signalling an end to a 23-year partnership with PETRONAS.

Australia: 2015-

Driving for the newly-formed Trass Family Motorsport (TFM), New Zealand's Ferrari Racing Team, Lester entered the 2015 Australian GT Championship in a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3.^[3]

Prior to this, TFM competed locally in New Zealand Endurance racing with Lester in a Ferrari F430 Challenge, scoring second overall at the final round of the 2014 South Island Endurance Series.

In the 2015 Australian GT season, Lester scored a perfect three pole positions in the first three rounds of the championship, equalling a long-standing category record held by the late Allan Simonsen.^[4]

A fourth pole position secured Lester another Australian GT record for the most pole positions in a single season (4), however despite five podium finishes and two lap records (Townsville outright and Sandown) Lester was unable to score a win with the TFM team.

Lester resigned from TFM shortly after the season finale Highlands 101 endurance race, where the car was disqualified from a comfortable lead in the closing stages.

Awards

Lester was a recipient of the Steel Trophy in 2007, representing the top junior driver under 21 years of age for the year.

In 2008, Lester was awarded a President's Scholarship recognising his potential as a young New Zealand driver, working closely with world-renowned sports neuroscientist Dr. Kerry Spackman.^[5]

Racing record

Career summary

References

External links

• Official website
• Jono Lester on Twitter
• Jono Lester career summary at DriverDB.com