Brendon Leitch returns to Europe to race GT3 Lamborghini
Brendon Leitch is back in Europe and set to campaign a Leipert Motorsport GT3 Lamborghini Huracan Evo in three major endurance races.
Apr 13, 2021
Leitch will be one of a team of four drivers Leipert will utilise in the forthcoming Hockenheim 12-Hour and Portimao 24-Hour races, with a third endurance event yet to be announced.
The Invercargill-born driver finished second in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Pro-Am class in 2019 before remaining solely on the domestic scene during 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
Brendon Leitch will pilot one of a Leipert Motorsport GT3 Lamborghini Huracan Evo in Europe as part of a multi-talented team tackling prestigious upcoming endurance events. The Kiwi will be racing in the forthcoming Hockenheim 12-Hour and Portimao 24-Hour races with a third event – likely another 12-hour race – still to be confirmed.
The 24-Hour Series pitches GT3 machinery against special GT and silhouette cars (in a class known as GTX), Porsche 991 Cup cars and GT4 cars in 12- and 24-hour events around Europe. The races also include classes for TCR and other eligible touring cars.
Some big names have competed over the years since the series began in 2008. Today it has full FIA support and is acknowledged as the only endurance championship of its kind in the motorsport world.
Twenty-five-year-old Leitch finished second in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Pro-Am class with Leipert in 2019 but raced only in New Zealand during 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.
He partnered former Indy Lights racer Cristina Orr-West in an early generation Audi R8 Ultra in the New Zealand South Island Endurance Series as the duo completed a giant killing championship in third overall having beaten some much newer machinery.
Leitch also competed in January’s New Zealand Grand Prix, fighting hard with eventual winner Shane van Gisbergen. He also finished fourth in the 2019 Asian Formula Three Championship.
Leitch will be backed by long-time supporters Dayle ITM and Lamborghini Auckland.
“Despite the long layoff from international competition, I’ve been keeping busy," says Leitch. "I hope my Grand Prix performance reminded everyone that I intend to pick up where I left the international scene before COVID came along which is fighting to be at the front and winning podiums and races.
"The circuits for the campaign are all new to me, but I’ve been finding my way around them on the sim and I’m super excited to be stepping up to international GT3 competition. The opposition in the 24-Hour series is going to be very tough, but I know the team well and I’m confident we’ll have a strong team and a strong car.”