Brendon Leitch and his Leipert Motorsport driving partners Kerong Li and Jean-Francos Brunot will start tonight’s 12 Hours of Spa at the 13th-best GT and seventh of the AM class field.
The trio qualified well in difficult conditions, the track starting as relatively dry before a traditional Spa-Francorchamp downpour threw a spanner into the works during the second stage.
Qualifying was undertaken through three 13-minute sessions with an 8-minute gap between each run, with each driver setting a time before the average time over all three competitors set the grid.
Li was the first from Leipert Motorsport to run, the majority of the field taking to the track on wet tyres but immediately boxing for slicks at session commencement.
The Chinese driver set a best time of 2:46.997 to sit 35th of the 50-strong field after Q1.
Brunot took the wheel for Q2, his 2:30.932 set early on the drying track right as the rain began to return, going 15th quickest. The conditions intensified late on in the session meaning early runs were crucial for a flying lap.
The rain was gone as quickly as it arrived but left track conditions treacherous for Leitch’s run in Q3. The Kiwi relented, setting a monster 2:37.004 to impressively go sixth fastest overall in the session.
An average time of 2:38.311 puts the team on the seventh row on the grid, being seventh-top of the Am field.
The first six hours of the 12 Hours of Spa begins at 9.50 pm tonight, with the second six hours commencing at 8.30 pm tomorrow.
The race is being live-streamed on motorsport.tv.
Header Image: Supplied
