Kiwi drivers dominated the final race of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals at Monza, with Brendon Leitch and co-driver Nicolas Stati claiming the Pro World Championship in a thrilling 45-minute race that saw Kiwis take all three podium steps.
Liam Sceats and co-driver Gustaw Wiśniewski finished second, while Will Bamber completed the podium in third after another impressive solo drive. Kiwi success continued in the Pro-Am class, with Chris van der Drift and Australian co-driver Todd Kingsford taking the class win.
The result capped an outstanding weekend for the New Zealand contingent, with Leitch and Stati overcoming a difficult qualifying session and a ninth-place start to claim the World Finals Pro title by just five points over Race 1 winners Elias De La Torre and Dennis Lind.
Van der Drift and Kingsford got their final race off to the best possible start, securing outright pole position with an impressive 1:46.064 lap in the second qualifying session. Bamber was just 0.015 seconds behind, securing second on the grid and pole position in the Pro class.
The Kiwi was once again competing alone, with regular co-driver Darius Trinka hospitalised following a medical emergency. Under the regulations, Bamber was required to serve a pit stop three seconds longer than teams completing a driver change, putting him at a slight disadvantage.
Sceats and Wiśniewski also showed strong pace, qualifying sixth overall and fourth in the Pro class, just three-tenths off the outright pole time.
Leitch and Stati faced a tougher challenge, starting ninth overall and seventh in Pro, while Race 1 winners De La Torre and Lind were even further back in 13th overall and tenth in class.
Van der Drift made the most of his pole position, holding the inside line into Turn 1 to lead Bamber through the opening chicane. Behind them, the field struggled to take the tight first two corners cleanly, with several drivers cutting the chicane or taking the escape road to avoid contact.
Sceats was among those caught up in the opening-lap chaos, taking a heavy hit from behind that damaged his Lamborghini’s rear diffuser. The Kiwi managed to continue but lost a position, dropping to seventh overall and fifth in the Pro class.
Stati also lost ground while avoiding the incidents, slipping from ninth to 11th overall, while De La Torre made an impressive start to climb five positions into eighth. The Safety Car quickly neutralised the race after a three-car incident further down the field at Turn 3.
With 30 minutes remaining, Van der Drift led the field back to green, but the restart brought another major twist in the battle for the World Finals title. De La Torre was turned around at the opening chicane, sending the Race 1 winner tumbling to the back of the field and severely damaging his championship hopes.
It was a huge opportunity for the Kiwi contenders, with Bamber and the Leitch/Stati combination now firmly in the title fight, separated by just eight points. At the front, Van der Drift began building a comfortable advantage, stretching his lead over Bamber to 2.8 seconds while continuing to lead the Pro-Am class.
Bamber remained the leading Pro driver, with Sceats running fourth in class and Stati fifth.
With 25 minutes remaining, Stati was the first of the leading Kiwi combinations to pit, handing the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini over to Leitch. Bamber and Sceats followed three minutes later, with Sceats handing over to Wiśniewski while Bamber completed his mandatory longer stop.
Van der Drift stayed out until 17 minutes remained before bringing the VSR Racing Lamborghini into the pits and handing over to Kingsford. Once the pit-stop cycle had played out, the Kiwi contingent found themselves in an extraordinary position.
Kingsford led the race outright and the Pro-Am class, with Leitch running second overall and leading the Pro field. Wiśniewski was third overall and second in Pro, while Bamber sat fourth overall and third in class.
All four Kiwi entries were running inside the top four, with the Pro World Championship now firmly within Leitch and Stati’s reach. With 13 minutes remaining, Leitch made his move, passing Kingsford to take the outright race lead.
The Kiwi immediately began pulling away, opening a 3.5-second advantage over Wiśniewski, who had also found his way past Kingsford to move into second overall. With eight minutes left, Kingsford remained third overall and continued to lead Pro-Am, while Bamber was fourth, just 2.7 seconds behind.
While Leitch controlled the race out front, the battle behind him was far from over. On the final lap, Bamber closed in on Kingsford, and the pair went wheel-to-wheel in a fierce battle for third overall.
Bamber eventually found a way through, moving onto the final step of the podium. But the fight also opened the door for Colin Queen, who took advantage of the battling pair to slip past Kingsford at the chicane.
Kingsford suddenly dropped to fifth overall, though he still held a commanding advantage in the Pro-Am class.
At the front, Leitch crossed the line to take a brilliant victory, securing the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals Pro Championship alongside Stati and Leipert Motorsport.
Wiśniewski followed him home in second, securing an overall and Pro class podium for himself and Sceats, while Bamber completed an all-Kiwi overall podium in third.
Leitch and Stati made a remarkable turnaround, starting ninth on the grid before fighting to the front and ultimately beating De La Torre and Lind to the Pro World Championship by just five points.
For Bamber, the podium was another strong result in what had already been a successful but challenging weekend, having secured the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Pro Championship runner-up title while competing without his regular co-driver.
Kingsford still had one final moment of drama, finding himself in a drag race to the finish line against Dennis Lind. Lind narrowly got the better of the Australian by just thousandths of a second, snatching fifth overall and leaving Kingsford and Van der Drift sixth.
Despite losing three overall positions in the closing stages, the VSR Racing pair had done more than enough to secure the Pro-Am class victory, finishing well clear of their nearest class rivals.
The result added another victory to New Zealand’s outstanding World Finals campaign, although Anthony Pretorius and Bronislav Formánek took the overall Pro-Am World Championship with 27 points. Van Der Drift and Kingsford finished third in the Pro-Am World Finals standings with 16 points.
With Leitch and Stati crowned Pro World Champions, Sceats and Wiśniewski finishing second, Bamber third, and Van der Drift and Kingsford winning Pro-Am, the weekend ended with a fitting bow for the Kiwi drivers at Monza.
Four Kiwi entries, an outright podium sweep, two class victories and a World Championship title. New Zealand’s drivers could hardly have asked for a better weekend finish.
Header Image: Leipert Motorsport
