Brendon Leitch’s impressive run of form continued this morning in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, the Kiwi charging from eighth on the grid to finish second at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The result moves the Kiwi to second in the standings and extends Leitch’s podium streak to three races.
Starting off the fourth row on a massive grid of 48 cars, Leitch got underway well and was in a tight battle pack up the front, sitting as high as fifth on the opening lap but dropping to seventh as a running order was established.
He remained in seventh, stuck at the rear of a line of cars that had pulled clear, until the pit window opened. Leitch was one of the first to make his stop to break free of the train, dropping down the order as others remained out.
As the window closed and everyone came in, the Kiwi moved up to sixth, quickly managing passes on those ahead to sit third with 15 minutes still to run.
Up front, Mattia Michelotto had built a solid lead in the #6 Lamborghini over the first stint to lead by over 7-seconds before handing over to Gilles Stadsbader, while Adam Eteki ran second after being handed the #12 from Thomas Laurent.
Leitch and Eteki worked hard to reduce the gap to the leader, pulling well clear of fourth-placed Rodrigo Testa.
With the podium places seemingly decided, but not the order, a late Safety Car threw a spanner into the works and brought the field together with just minutes remaining.
The intervention was quick, and the restart saw cars line-astern over the final two laps. Eteki pressured Stadsbader for the lead as Leitch cleared a back-marker to join the battle and threatened to mix up the podium places.
Testa also joined in the fight as Leitch ran side-by-side with Eteki until news of a drive-through penalty came through for the latter, resulting in the Kiwi dropping off to preserve his position over Testa through a solid display of defence.
Stadsbader was also slapped with a penalty; however, his was only 1.2 seconds for a short stop. It was enough for him to hold on for the win over Leitch by 0.396 seconds.
Despite crossing the line second, Eteki dropped the order to finish 12th of the Pro competitors, which was beneficial to Testa and Ugo De Wilde, who moved into a podium place.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe returns for one final race at Spa-Francorchamps, which begins at 8.35 pm tonight. Leitch will start second in this evening’s race, which will be live-streamed on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube.
He’ll then return for Sunday’s 24 Hours of Spa which begins at 2.30 am on Sunday.
Header Image: Leipert Motorsport/ Brendon Leitch (Sourced Facebook)
