Brendon Leitch and Leipert Motorsport have finished a credible fourth overall in the GT category of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series after two top results in Abu Dhabi over the weekend.
Driving a factory-supported Lamborghini Huracan GT3, Leitch, along with teammates – top Am driver Gabriel Rindone and Lamborghini factory driver Marco Mapelli, finished fourth in the four-hour race on Saturday and followed up with the same result in Sunday’s four-hour race.
A post-race penalty for another competitor then put them up to third and on to the podium.
The result propels them up the leaderboard to finish fourth overall.
“It’s a fantastic result,” commented Leitch. “It’s definitely made the series for us after our mediocre result the weekend before in Dubai.”
Leitch’s team took part in the opening two four-hour races in Dubai the week before coming away with just one-point knowing that they had a competitive lineup.
“We knew our line-up was strong and it just didn’t fall into place whereas here at Abu Dhabi our strategy worked perfectly in the first race and the boys did an awesome job.”
The Asian Le Mans Series consists of four four-hour races over consecutive weekends in Dubai and Abu Dhabi attracting teams to compete in LMP2, LMP3, and GT3 categories.
“We soon found out that our car was not going to be the quickest, even with the BoP* (Balance of Performance) being adjusted after the first race in Dubai.
“What worked in our favour in Saturday’s race is we got the strategy almost bang-on. The number of cautions and full-course yellows played into our hands whereas in Sundays’ race there were very few for us to take advantage of.
“Gabbie (Gabriel Rindone) drove first in today’s race and held 11th when I got into the car. I was able to soon get up to third as most other teams had their Am driver in the car, and Marco was able to hold on for fourth at the end of the race,” Leitch said before learning of their competitors post-race penalty.
“It’s been an awesome experience and really pleased with the end result. The support from Lamborghini, Leipert Motorsport, Dayle ITM and all our supporters has been fantastic. A great way to get our (GT) season underway.
The ALMS (GT category) was won by the Walkenhorst Motorsport team (BMW GT3).
Leitch now heads back to his European base in Germany with testing the new Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 due to get underway before competing in the Northern Hemisphere summer season of racing.
*The Balance of Performance (BoP) is used in motorsport as a means to equalise the different car platforms competing in a category, usually by means of adding or subtracting ballast.
Words: Supplied
Header Image: Leipert Motorsport
