Brendon Leitch has put himself on the radar of Bathurst 12 Hour teams after a blisteringly quick debut at Mount Panorama.
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe champion stunned Supercars regulars to be the fastest Pro driver on average across the two Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS races at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International on November 8-10.
The highlight of the weekend was scoring pole position for Race 2, an incredible feat considering he had never cut a lap at the circuit before Thursday.
Driving the Dayle ITM Audi R8 LMS GT3 with countryman Tim Miles, the New Zealanders came into the final weekend fifth in the points.
Leitch and Miles rose from seventh on the grid in Race 1 to finish on the podium behind Melbourne Performance Centre teammates Will Brown and Brad Schumacher and the eventual champions Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot of Arise Racing.
From pole position for Race 2, Leitch led Supercars driver Jaxon Evans into Hell Corner. After a safety car, Leitch extended his lead over the Arise Racing Ferrari 296 to more than five seconds.
Leitch brought the No.7 car to the pit lane for his compulsory pit stop to hand it over to Miles, who left the pit bay 0.07s too soon and incurred a drive-through penalty for the pit stop infringement.
After serving the penalty, Leitch and Miles finished ninth in the race. They were on course to clinch third in the championship but dropped to sixth in the standings.
It was a brutal end to the season but was ultimately characteristic of their campaign, which was littered with small mistakes that proved costly.
“We came to Bathurst optimistic that we would be able to finish third in the points but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately, one more mistake crept in, which really sums up our season. Sixth doesn’t really represent how good Tim and I were. The result hurts but we can hold our head high knowing that together in our first season we were among the best,” said Leitch.
“I’m really proud of my performance. I had tempered my expectations coming into the weekend given my relative inexperience to guys like Chaz Mostert and Will Brown who have cut thousands of laps here before me. So to get pole position and to be so fast in my stints was a real vote of confidence. I’ve never pushed so hard in my life and a track like Mount Panorama really rewards commitment.
“At the moment, I haven’t got anything locked in for the Bathurst 12 Hour next year, but I hope a performance like that puts me on the radar of teams looking for a Gold driver. I don’t think I could have done much more and I definitely think I proved to myself and anyone watching that I’m capable against some of the best Supercars and GT3 drivers in the Southern Hemisphere.”
Leitch’s personal performance was characterised by his scintillating pace at tracks he had never raced at. He was on average among the quickest drivers.
Leitch and Miles ended the season with one win at Phillip Island and podiums at Queensland Raceway, Sydney Motorsport Park, and Mount Panorama.
“To even be in the fight for third felt like a bit of a miracle after all the dramas we’ve had this season,” said Leitch.
“All going to plan, we’ll be back next year and standing on the top step of the podium more often than not.”
