Frustrating second round for Leitch
Southland’s Brendon Leitch provided a glimpse of just what he’s capable of before he was a dealt a frustrating Sunday during round two of the Toyota Racing Series at Invercargill’s Teretonga Park.
Many of world motorsport’s rising stars converged on Teretonga for the weekend’s action but many of the spectators’ eyes were fixed on hometown hero Leitch and just what he could produce.
On Friday Leitch was the fastest driver in the official practice.
On Saturday morning he then qualified third for race one of the three-race round.
He finished second behind Australia’s Thomas Randle in the race on Saturday afternoon before a disappointing Sunday for the Southlander on his home track.
In the first race on Sunday Leitch got in a tangle with Enaam Ahmed and slid off the track.
He was unable to take any further part in the race and to add to it his team was left scrambling to get his car right for the main race of the round - the Spirit of the Nation Cup.
A group of 10 worked hard and while Leitch was able to take his spot on pole for the Spirit of a Nation Cup mechanical problems hindered his chance to win on his home track.
He finished seventh in the final race at Teretonga Park and also now sits seventh in the series.
‘‘We struggled in the last race, there were a few bits in the car we couldn’t replace in time. But we just had to do the best we could in the last race and get some points.’’
‘‘It was pretty hard to drive that last one but you’ve just got to do what you can with what you’ve got really.’’
Leitch remains upbeat heading into the third round next weekend at Hampton Downs.
‘‘I’m the fastest one ever to go around [Hampton Downs] in a TRS car so we’ve got good speed there and we’ll be able to use that to our advantage.’’
Dutch teenager Richard Verschoor again impressed at Teretonga during the weekend which included winning the Spirit of a Nation Cup to retain top spot in the TRS standings.
Meanwhile, Southland’s Liam Macdonald continues to impress with another strong showing in round four of the BNT NZ Touring Car Championship at Teretonga.
Macdonald has won every round in the championship to date in his GT Radial NZ Falcon, winning the last seven races in a row, a sequence started at Taupo in December.
At Teretonga he qualified second fastest, just .033 of a second behind fellow Southlander Jamie Conroy and went on to win all three races in varying conditions.
Macdonald made a good start to the opening race on Saturday in dry conditions and took the lead early before a safety car period.
When the race resumed he continued to lead all the way to the chequered flag.
Sunday was wet and in the first race of the day Macdonald came through from the reverse grid order to take the lead from Justin Ashwell late in the race to snare another win.
He backed it up in the afternoon race with another win.
Riverton’s Ethan Anderson, in the Formula F1600 Championship, was another Southlander to impress during the weekend which included a race win on Saturday.
Anderson’s broke the nine win sequence of championship leader Liam Lawson, of Pukekohe But Lawson resumed his winning ways in the rain yesterday to win both races from Invercargill driver Jordan Michels.