Leipert Motorsport drivers Brendon Leitch and Don Yount claimed back-to-back Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe class podiums at Spa-Francorchamps in Pro-Am.
Driving their #70 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 in blisteringly hot conditions, Leitch narrowly missed out on pole position. Co-driver Yount was 30th in his qualifying session, which was blighted by an incident under Full Course Yellow that damaged their car.
In Race 1, Leitch immediately took second place when one of the front-row-starting cars failed to drive away when the lights went out. That made it a Leipert Motorsport one-two with Leitch trailing teammate Axel Bengtsson and Manz Thalin in the sister #44 car.
On the seventh lap, Leitch passed his Leipert stablemate at Pouhon and set about establishing a gap of more than four seconds before the pit stops.
Leitch handed Yount the car with 20 minutes to go. He enjoyed a spell in the lead of the race before being swallowed up by the fast Pro drivers.
A pair of Safety Car interventions late in the race neutralised the field with Yount in sixth place and third in class.
However, there were bizarre scenes on the last lap when the race leader mistakenly followed the Safety Car into the pits under the yellow. That promoted Leitch and Yount one position to fifth overall and second in Pro-Am.
Leitch revealed post-race that he and Yount were lucky to take the chequered flag after discovering a fuel pressure issue that had cost them time during the second stint.
“I got a good start and got up into second place behind my teammate and was able to get past him and drive off, making a nice gap for Don,” said Leitch.
“He had a clear run for two or three laps, and then there was a Safety Car for a crash, and then another one, which was lucky for us because we had a fuel pressure issue due to the temperature. That Safety Car saved us, really. We got second, which was great.”
In Race 2, Yount started from the rear of the field in 30th and stayed out of trouble during his stint to hold 27th when he handed the car over to Leitch.
Leitch returned to the contest more than a minute behind the leaders, but was given a gift when the Safety Car came out with 15 minutes remaining. That bunched the field up and put Leitch back into contention.
Leitch, by that point, was up to 18th. What followed was a passing masterclass as he surged forward to sixth overall and third in Pro-Am.
“It was a great weekend. The car was really faultless. Our Leipert Motorsport engineers did a great job on getting it all tuned for the weekend,” said Leitch.
“Don started the second race from the back of the grid and passed a couple of cars and was just able to hang onto the back of the pack, which was great.
“I got in the car with some fresh air, and we were able to undercut a few cars before a Safety Car, which bunched everybody up.
“Then I was just carving through the field flat out. There were a few wee touches here and there that made the nose look a bit second-hand, but apart from that, it was a cool race.
“It was probably one of the most fun races I’ve had in Super Trofeo, coming from 31st all the way up to sixth overall was pretty epic.”
Leitch will return to his second home of Sydney for a few days before flying to Japan for the third round of GT World Challenge Asia, where he will join JJ Song in the Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 at Fuji Speedway.
Header Image: Sciarra Gianluca Fotospeedy
