Jono Lester

Family Heritage

Lester grew up in motorsport and is a third generation driver.

The Lester family first became involved in motorsport in the early 1970s, when grandparents Rob & Wendy set up the Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding, Manawatu.

They ran Manfeild for over three decades, until retirement in 2003. Throughout this period Rob, son Richard (Jono's father) and daughter Debbie all raced successfully at National level, each winning National titles respectively.

Rob was awarded the prestigious Jim Clark Trophy in 1979, while Richard and Debbie were respective Steel Trophy recipients in 1983 and 1986, representing New Zealand's top driver under 21 years of age.

Richard is a successful driver coach and team manager, and the founder of the Shell Formula Ford Formula Ford Scholarship which launched the career of Greg Murphy and numerous top Kiwi drivers in the early 1990s.

Early career

Jono Lester started competing in Formula Vee at 13 years of age, dovetailed with Formula Challenge for two seasons before graduating to the Porsche GT3 Cup in 2006.

At just 16 years of age, Lester became the world's youngest competitor in a one-make Porsche Cup series, and then the world's youngest race winner when he scored a maiden victory at Timaru International Motor Raceway in March 2007, aged 17 years and 3 months.

He finished fourth overall in his debut season behind Craig Baird, Fabian Coulthard and Matt Halliday.

Returning for two more seasons, Lester netted multiple victories including the 2009 Hamilton 400 and Taupo A1GP Trophy events.

A brief foray into Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship during 2008 was curtailed by budget restraints and a broken leg suffered in a heavy accident in the New Zealand series at Timaru.

Porsche Cups

After four years competing in Australasian Porsche Cups, Lester headed to Europe where he successfully tested at the Hungaroring for Porsche Supercup champion team, Walter Lechner Racing.

This led to a stint in the Middle East at the Bahrain Grand Prix circuit, as a test driver for Porsche AG developing the MY2010 model Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

In 2010, Lester was one of 12 drivers from around the world selected by Porsche for a two-day Scholarship shootout at ACI Vallelunga Circuit, Italy.

Lester succeeded and was awarded a Factory ‘Motorsport Talent’ Scholarship, granting him a start in the Porsche Supercup at the Monza Grand Prix. He finished 13th in a record grid of 32 cars.

Despite a career switch to GT3 machinery in 2012, he continued to compete regularly in Porsche machinery including a clean-sweep of wins to claim the 2013 New Zealand Endurance Championship alongside Simon Ellingham.

In 2016, Lester won on debut in the China GT Championship at the Chengdu Goldenport Circuit driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

GT3

In 2012 Lester made the switch to the fast-rising GT3 category, signing a two-year deal with Malaysian oil giant Petronas in Japan's Super Taikyu Endurance series, finishing second overall both seasons driving a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

Returning down under, Lester drove a Ferrari 458 for Trass Family Motorsport in the 2015 Australian GT Championship, scoring multiple qualifying records with three pole positions in a row and pole position in five of the seven championship rounds.

In 2016, he scored a podium finish on his GT Asia Series debut at Okayama International Circuit, driving the Porsche 991 GT3-R. He is also currently competing in the Asian Le Mans Series driving a McLaren 650S.

Super GT

Lester made his long-awaited debut in Japanese Japanese Super GT at the 2016 running of the 1000 km Suzukarace, driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with Direction 108 Racing. He and Kyosuke Mineo finished 19th after multiple tyre failures.

In 2017, he will make his full-season debut in Super GT, driving for PACIFIC with Gulf Racing in a Porsche 991 GT3-R, alongside 2016 team mate Mineo.

Other Racing

Lester has competed in many other categories throughout his career including HQ Holden, CN prototypes and various touring and formula cars.

From 2007-09 he won three consecutive New Zealand Time Attack titles driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII.

In 2012, he competed in the Toyota Racing Series for ETEC Motorsport, scoring a podium in his debut race and finishing sixth in the New Zealand Grand Prix.

He scored multiple podium finishes in the V8 SuperTourers Endurance Championship with John McIntyre Racing in 2012, driving a Ford Falcon FG.

In 2016, he finished second overall in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia with three pole positions, one win and nine podiums at the wheel of a Huracan LP620-2 ST, shared with Japanese Yudai Uchida.

Awards

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

In 2008, Lester was awarded The President's Scholarship, a MotorSport New Zealand award in conjunction with world-renowned sports neuroscientist Dr. Kerry Spackman.

In 2010, he was awarded a factory Porsche Motorsport Talent Scholarship after triumphing in a worldwide shootout of 12 young drivers at the Vallelunga circuit in Italy.