Southland’s finest ready for the next step

It’s an exciting time to be Brendon Leitch.

There’s a bit of a sense that the stars are aligning for the kid from Invercargill who caused a mighty stir when he arrived in wings and slick motor racing in 2014.

Leitch-watchers will know Brendon is the fourth member of the family show some finely tuned reflexes and a love of a long fast smooth apex. The Leitch family are grassroots Kiwi motorsport icons.

Dad Barry is rumoured to have met Mum Marguerite at a karting event, and in fact with some prodding Barry will admit his wife-to-be was a bit quicker than him!

Older brother Damon is of course named after THAT Damon, you know, the one from Formula One. The two brothers grew up fiercely competitive – going to the dairy for chips was as likely to turn into a race, chips forgotten for  lengthy ‘discussions’ over who was quicker and who cut corners.

Damon (26) arrived in the Toyota Racing Series a few seasons before Brendon, and he too was fast and competitive, a clean racer who was especially quick on circuits in the south. His TRS career straddled the years when the championship evolved to its current format. His best results are a pair of third overall series finishes in 2012 and 2014 – both epic years in TRS history.

But back to Brendon and the exciting prospects dangling just beyond his reach right now.

He is at the sharp end of a busy racing season contesting both Formula Three Asia and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, a Pro-Am series where he is currently second overall.

He is a commuter racer, flying to each round from New Zealand, and the only one in either series to be contesting both. Three of the six Lamborghini rounds are at the same tracks.

“That’s when it gets super busy. I have to watch my prep times pretty closely to make sure I get to each session or race and then get good results in both,” he said.

Adjusting between agile single seater and the bigger, more powerful Lamborghinis takes some doing: throttle use, throttle application, transitions between throttle and brake and back again are all total different between the two cars.

Leitch won in Korea in August, then was sixth and fifth (second Pro-Am) in the two races of the penultimate round to sit second on points going into the final, held as part of the 2019 World Final at the 4.42 km Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), October 24 – 27. So a title is a definite prospect for the young Kiwi.

Rating the new regional F3 cars

In the F3 series he has stolen a march on the competitors heading down-under to contest this year’s Castrol Toyota Racing Series. The cars used in Asia are the same Tatuus T-318 as will be used here, though the engine is different. In Asia the power comes from a turbo Alfa engine; in New Zealand from a turbo four cylinder engine used in Lexus and Toyota cars. Both making (apparently) 270 bhp – though scuttlebutt has it the Toyota/Lexus unit would be comfortable at 280 bhp or all the way to 300.

In every other respect the cars are identical. Leitch is fourth outright in a grid of 22 entries, albeit with some fast young guys in front of him.

“The cars are great, a good balance of power, aero and handling, good brakes as well.”

Leitch says the racing in the F3 championship is the tougher, with teams like Hitech and Absolute running multiple drivers and the likes of Red Bull Junior Jack Doohan – son of motorcycle world champion Mick – to contend with.

Brendon Leitch, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, Suzuka 2019

So: a GT future?

That F3 experience would be perfect preparation for another run at a TRS title, but Leitch plans to be training and packing for a GT series drive. That means every single dollar he can lay his hands on has to be directed at his goal.

He is actively talking to team managers and talent spotters watching the series and the Lamborginis and says he would like the drive to be in Asia but is looking at all offers.

Leitch admits it will be difficult not to feel a certain ‘itch’ if he does watch some CTRS rounds, especially at his ‘local’ circuit where his name is on the trophy for the TRS feature race.

His Kiwi CV now strongly points to a top GT drive. Stand-out results from recent years include third overall in the 2013 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, second overall a year later. The talented 23-year-old New Zealander then contested the Toyota Racing Series in January-February 2014, scraping through on second-hand and borrowed tyres but putting in a performance that embarrassed many better-resourced competitors. In that same year he drove a GT3 class Aston Martin DBR9  in the inaugural Highlands 101 – one of a pair with brother Damon and his first serious GT drive.

More endurance drives followed, including a stint with Malaysia’s Mike Racing running a Mercedes AMG with Christina Orr-West, one of New Zealand’s quickest female competitors. Then came 2019 and the dual opportunity, Asian F3 in the very latest F3 machinery and the mighty Lamborghinis.

Loyalty repaid

Leitch is loyal to those who support him. Like his brother Damon, he ran all his seasons in TRS with the Nelson-based Victory Motor Racing team, the Kiwi Driver Fund slotted in with essential support as did Post Haste, and every year the car featured more and more ITM Yellow, as a sponsorship created by Deborah Day of Dayle ITM blossomed into a long term deal.

As he prepares for the next step, such loyalty will no doubt be on Leitch’s mind. He must now balance this against the cut-throat world of modern racing.

Brendon Leitch at the opening 2019 TRS round at Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell, NZ – Race 2

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

Related Stories

Join in the conversation!


Comments

Leave a Reply