Lian began his career in Australian club racing, driving a Subaru Impreza. In 1999 he was invited to compete in Asian Formula 2000 by the series promoter, finishing fifth on debut. Lian finished third in the championship in his first full season in 2001, and won the title the following year. In 2005, he moved to Europe to contest a partial season in Formula Palmer Audi, finishing inside the top-five in all entered races and placing 13th in the final standings. He returned to Asia in 2006 to contest the Formula V6 Asia championship, finishing 7th overall.
In late-2006, Lian was selected to compete for Singapore in A1 Grand Prix. He was entered in the first round at Zandvoort, but was replaced with Christian Murchison having contracted tonsilitis between practice and qualifying. Lian returned to the seat a week later in Brno, but qualified second-last and spun on the opening lap of the feature race. He was replaced with Murchison for the following round in Beijing, and was later fired when the series' parent company A1 Holdings took control of the team having fallen into financial difficulties.[2]
Lian later contested two seasons of the Asian Le Mans Series in the minnow Group CN class, winning the two-car class in the 2015–16 season. He also competed in handful of rounds in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia in 2013, and has raced in various editions of the Merdeka Endurance Race. Outside of the driving seat, Lian has managed the Singapore branches of Lotus Cars and McLaren Automotive, and was appointed CEO of Johor Motorsports in 2015.
Singaporean