100 WEC races in, Lietz is still driving himself happy

It’s almost fitting that Richard Lietz, the humble but ultra-competitive man that he is, didn’t realize this weekend’s 6 Hours of Monza was his 100th WEC start until earlier this week. It took him by surprise.

In the build-up to the 2026 season finale, instead of monitoring and celebrating personal achievements, the 42-year-old Austrian was busy focusing on Sunday’s title showdown. He and his teammates at The Bend Manthey – Riccardo Pera and Yasser Shahin (pictured left to right, above) – have a mountain to climb, but can still snatch the glory if they overturn an 18-point deficit to drivers’ standings leader Jonny Edgar and his teams’-title-leading No. 33 TF Sport Corvette at Monza.

“It’s going to be tough,” he admits to RACER when asked about the task at hand. “For us, it’s actually a bit unlucky that we don’t have the eight-hour race in Bahrain to finish the season, with more points on offer, because we had a good year, some good races, but the zero points we got from three races hurt in a championship like the WEC. We are in a position where we can win, but really we just have to enjoy the moment.

“We are carrying 30 kilos of success ballast after winning in Barcelona, so it’s going to be hard. But we have nothing to lose, so we have to risk it and go for it. We have no pressure, so we are relaxed.”

It could still be a championship year for Lietz (left) and his Manthey teammates, but win or lose, he’s living the dream. James Moy Photography/Getty Images

Regardless, Lietz’s glittering WEC career deserves recognition. Like Toyota's Sébastien Buemi, who became the first driver to reach 100 WEC races in Barcelona last month, Lietz’s time in the championship has, remarkably, been spent with just one manufacturer: Porsche.

Lietz has been part of the championship since its inaugural season in 2012, missing only the full 2023 season (where he only started at Le Mans) and three other single rounds, racing in GT machinery with either Proton Competition or Manthey.

As the WEC’s GT ranks have evolved, Lietz has found success, first racing in Porsche’s GTE Pro efforts and, more recently, in the Pro/Am LMGT3 format introduced in 2024 to replace GTE. He’s a two-time title winner – in 2015 and 2025 – who has racked up 15 class wins, including four at Le Mans.

“I think the most important factor is that I’ve been under the radar,” he jokes when asked about his longevity. “All the attention this weekend, I don’t like it, because people (at Porsche) will realize I’m still here, and say, ‘F*** we still pay him!’

“But in all seriousness, there’s always been different tasks in my career since I became a Porsche factory driver in 2006. First it was Pro/Am in the Le Mans series, then GTE Pro in WEC, now again I’m working with Bronze and Silver drivers again. But these are always weekends I enjoy; it’s a good reason to wake up in the morning and try to do my best.

“I’ve always enjoyed enjoy endurance racing, but it was important for me to always be in the WEC since it started. The way you drive, the way you work as a team, I always appreciate it here. If you do Carrera Cup or sprint racing, something like that, if you win you’re the only one in the paddock who is happy. Here, I get to celebrate with teammates. There’s a good team spirit and it generates a lot of memories.”

Picking a season, a race, or an era that stands out, is tough for Lietz, but the answer may come as a surprise.

“During the GTE Pro times as a factory, it was great because there was basically no budget; there was pure performance, we were developing cars, solving issues, working with confidential tires, and testing a lot. It was a special time. But I actually love what we have now," he explains.

“If we look at pure happiness, I think I have reached 100 percent happiness more this year and last year. It just feels like a natural habitat for me with Manthey in LMGT3. It’s more of a family situation. It’s not that I was unhappy when I was with a factory team, but now I realize I can be much happier and now I’m at the age where you should be happy if you wake up in the morning.”

The fact that Lietz has spent his entire stint in the WEC racing exclusively with Porsche in the GT ranks is even more remarkable when you consider that early in his time as part of the WEC paddock, a sliding-doors moment came and went, that could have changed the trajectory of his whole career.

“There was a time, when I was young and full of hope, when my boss came to me and Marc Lieb and explained that we were going to have a seat in LMP1,” he says of his ambitions to race in prototypes.

“We had one or two days of testing with a prototype, an LMP2 car, but with the axle and chassis parts from an LMP1, but then my boss was not my boss anymore. A new boss came, and they didn’t know me, so I was out again. It’s normal that things happen in big companies like this. You get new people, and they bring their people. I came close to prototypes, but didn’t get my chance.

“But again, I am a guy who is really happy in this kind of racing, and sometimes it’s nice to be a bit more relaxed in life.”

Title or no title, when Lietz reaches 100 WEC races on Sunday, he has no intention of that signaling the end of his career racing on the world stage.

“We discussed it briefly,” he says. “I think I could still race next year. They (Manthey) asked me for Asian Le Mans Series, which starts next week, which was unexpected, I’m happy about it. My goal is to be in the WEC too next year, that’s for sure, so we’ll see if it happens.”