Klaus Bachler

Klaus Bachler is a racing driver from Austria who currently serves as Porsche factory driver with KÜS Team75 Bernhard in the ADAC GT Masters and with Dinamic Motorsport in the Blancpain GT Series. Bachler is a Porsche driver since 2012 when he ended his single-seater career.

Earlier in a career, he was among the front runners in several junior open-wheel competitions, winning one championship title in the Formula Lista Junior.

Klaus Bachler

Karting champion in the beginning of a career

Born in July 1991 in Judenburg, Klaus was influenced by his father and raced a go-kart. Since the beginning Bachler was fascinated with speed and engines. Later he studied mechanical engineering at HTL Judenburg what also helped him in his professional racing career.

At the age of 11, Klaus was Styrian Kart Championship runner-up while in 2003 he became a champion. In the following year Bachler was a vice-champion of the Austrian Kart Championship, having 5 wins, 6 pole positions and 8 new track records. Finally, in 2005 he participated in the European Kart Championship and also finished 6th at the Winter Cup.

Klaus successfuly competed in karting at national level

In 2006 the young Austrian for the first time had an opportunity to test himself in the formula racing. It was in the Formula Lista at Salzburgring and he did pretty well, finishing 4th in the first and 6th in the second race of the round. The same year he also took part in the Formula BMW talent search and raced in the selected kart events.

Switch to single-seaters

After graduating in karting, he switched to open-wheelers and raced full-time in Formula Lista. He won the 2007 title having 5 wins and 10 pole positions on his account and immediately switched to ADAC Formula Masters. Driving for Neuhauser Racing, Klaus scored 2 wins, 3 fastest laps and pole position before taking the 3rd place overall, behind Alvaro Parente and Nico Monien.

Klaus Bachler, URD Rennsport, ADAC Formula Masters

He stayed in the series for another season but this time as a driver of the URD Rennsport squad. The Austrian won on 3 occasions, also had 4 fastest laps and 2 pole positions before finishing the season as a runner-up to Daniel Abt. The season of 2010 was pretty bad for the Austrian. He began the season in the ATS Formula 3 Cup but in the bad crash during a test at Hockenheim, Bachler was injured and had to miss out 6 months. Luckily, Klaus recovered for the start of 2011 campaign and raced full-time in the ATS Formula 3, finishing 3rd overall and 2nd in the Rookie Championship.

Porsche junior driver

In 2012 Klaus became Porsche junior driver and raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany with Team Deutsche Post. He finished 8th in the standings with the 3rd place in the race at Red Bull Ring as the best result. He also appeared in two rounds of Porsche Supercup, taking the 10th place at Spa.

Klaus Bachler

During his second year with Porsche, the Austrian raced solely in the Supercup and had some impressive achievements. He won the event at Spa and picked points on six more occasions before taking the 7th place in the final standings.

Debut in the World Endurance Championship

Porsche was happy with Bachler’s performances and promoted him to the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGTE Am Class. Driving with the Proton Competition alongside Khaled Al Qubaisi and Christian Ried, Klaus finished 5th in the standings. The highlight of the season was the 2nd place in the class at 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Klaus Bachler, 2014 Porsche Supercup

Parallel to his duties in the WEC, German racer continued to compete in the Porsche Supercup. As a member of Konrad Motorsport, he finished 4th overall, behind Earl Bamber, Kuba Giermaziak, and Michael Ammermuller. Finally, Klaus appeared with Team 75 Bernhard in the selected rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany but he failed to score notable results.

Klaus Bachler had an impressive start in the ADAC GT Masters

In 2015 the Austrian debuted in the ADAC GT Masters and made an immediate impact. As a driver of Schutz Motorsport, he was 4th in the standings after winning the season-opening round at Oschersleben when his co-driver was Christian Engelhart. That year he also shared the seat of Porsche 911 GT3 R with Philipp Eng and Martin Ragginger.

Ragginger and Bachler celebrating a victory

At the same time, he also participated in the selected rounds of the World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, and United SportsCar Championship. Another good result he has scored that year was the 3rd place with Lechner Racing at 24 Hours of Dubai where his co-drivers were Jaap van Lagen, Fahad Algosaibi, and Clemens Schmid.

Scoring solid results in various series

The season of 2016 was pretty similar to the previous one. He raced Porsche with a considerable success in the Porsche Supercup, WEC, ELMS, ADAC GT Masters, and 24h Series, but the best results Bachler has achieved in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup in which he scored four podiums out of five races before taking the 4th position in the final standings.

Klaus as a driver of Schutz Motorsport in the 2017 ADAC GT Masters

ADAC GT Masters as the main competition

The start of 2017 was good after the 3rd position at Dubai 24h. Bachler also continued to race in the ADAC GT Masters, as well as in the VLN Series. He spent a season in the ADAC GT Masters with Schütz Motorsport, sharing the #36 Porsche with Alex MacDowall and finishing 22nd in the points.

He also joined Proton Competition at 24 Hours of Le Mans, not finishing the race. At 24 Hours of Nurburgring, he raced with Frikadelli Racing Team, finishing in the sixth place. For the 2018 ADAC GT Masters season, Bachler rejoined KÜS Team75 Bernhard to share the #18 Porsche with Adrien de Leener. Their best result was the third place at Zandvoort.

In 2019, Bachler stayed with the same team in the ADAC GT Masters, sharing a car with team owner Timo Bernhard. Bachler's other full-time competition is the Blancpain GT Series with the Italian team Dinamic Motorsport.

Klaus Bachler in 2018

Photo: Klaus Bachler FB, Porsche, speedsport-magazine.com, racecam.de, adac-motorsport.de, racing24-7.net