New Zealand’s Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles claimed a thrilling victory in the second GT World Challenge Australia race at Phillip Island on Sunday.
The result comes just 24 Hours after Jaxon Evans and his Arise Racing GT teammate Elliott Schutte finished as runner-up in the opening race in the team’s new Ferrari 296 GT3, behind only teammates Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot.
Leitch had started Sunday’s race and handed the Dayle ITM Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2 over to Miles in a strong position, with the latter emerging with the lead and holding it until the chequered flag.
Brad Schumacher, also in an Audi, threatened the Australian-based Kiwi over several laps but spun out of contention on the penultimate lap, sliding through the gravel and returning to the track in third.
Jayden Ojeda and Paul Lucchitti’s Mercedes AMG-GT3 inherited second place and finished 10.2 seconds behind the all-Kiwi pairing.
“So happy with the result,” commented Leitch. “Tim drove a fantastic final stint and defended like a champion.”
“The key was for me to get a good start and stay with the leaders. We were holding third when Chaz (Mostert) pitted a lap earlier than us, so I was able to get some clean air and a quick lap. The pitstop went really well, and Tim was able to get out into the lead.”
Miles added, “It’s fantastic to get the win. Brad (Schumacher) was superb to race against, and there were a couple of places he may have had a lunge, and in the end, it didn’t work out for him.”
Leitch and Miles had crossed the line second in Saturday’s outing, but a post-race penalty relegated them to fourth after Leitch was found to have passed Evans under yellow.
“That was unfortunate,” said Leitch. “Tim had already received a penalty for speeding in pit lane, so we dropped from fifth to starting tenth. He managed to move up to eighth in his first stint. Despite the weather worsening, I was able to drive through the field to second and just didn’t see the yellow flag when attempting a pass around the outside of Jaxon Evans, so a post-race time penalty dropped us to fourth.”
Mostert and Talbot’s victory a day earlier came in a shortened race after a late shower of rain caused several cars to leave the track.
The GT World Challenge Australia returns for Round 2 at The Bend on May 31- June 2.
