Kiwi drivers Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles (Dayle ITM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2) head to The Bend in South Australia this weekend for the second round of the 2024 GT World Challenge Australia.
The pairing sits second overall, just two points behind leaders Liam Talbot and Chaz Mostert (Ferrari 296 GT3), after snatching a thrilling Race 2 victory at the opening round in April held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria.
“Really looking forward to it,” commented Leitch. “I haven’t raced at The Bend before, although we tested with the team earlier in the year, so I’m pretty confident about our speed at the circuit. The team gave us a great car in testing, and we went really well in the opening round, so Tim and I are confident that heading into the weekend, we will be in the best place possible.”
Leitch returns to his base in Australia after competing at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the GT Open 500 and 24 Hours of Spa Prologue in preparation for the famed enduro at the end of June.
Co-driving with Adrian D’Silva for Earl Bamber Motorsport, the pairing unfortunately retired from the GT Open race with a mechanical.
“It was my first time in a Porsche,” said Leitch. “I absolutely loved it. It was a fantastic experience and Earl has created an amazing team and a very professional environment to race in. The main objective was time in the car and on the track at Spa, especially for Adrian (D’Silva) which went really well.”
Now it’s back to focusing on the GT World Challenge Australia series. After finishing the opening race in fourth and winning the second, the Melbourne Performance Centre team are confident of being very competitive this weekend.
“The key is to make no mistakes, stay out of trouble and bring home a big bag of points,” said Leitch.
The Bend hosts Round 2 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries.
Kiwis Jaxon Evans and Steve Brooks will also be competing.
Two practice sessions take place on Friday, followed by two qualifying sessions first thing Saturday morning. Race 1 (60 mins) takes place at 2:25 pm NZST time, before the second 60-minute race at 3.55 pm on Sunday.
New Zealanders, can watch via the GT World YouTube channel.
