Leitch took pole position for the final race of Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International after Arise Racing’s Chaz Mostert was disqualified for an overboost breach.
Despite having never cut a lap of the circuit before Thursday’s practice, the Kiwi out-qualified the other Arise Racing Ferrari 296 of Jaxon Evans by 0.184s on Saturday morning.
Leitch cleared out to a five-season lead from pole position, leaving Evans to battle over second with Erebus Motorsport co-driver Jayden Ojeda and ex-FIA Formula 3 Championship driver Alex Peroni.
However, the Kiwi had his hard work undone when he and co-driver Tim Miles were given a drive-through for a pit stop infringement. Miles left his pit bay 0.07s too soon and eventually finished ninth having led after the pit stops.
It was a brutal end to the weekend for Leitch and Miles, who fell from fourth to sixth in the GT World Challenge Australia Pro-Am standings.
The only consolation beyond pole position was third place in the penultimate race of the season, which was won by Melbourne Performance Racing’s Will Brown and Brad Schumacher while Mostert and Liam Talbot claimed second.
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Leitch is optimistic his performance at Mount Panorama against some of the most well-known Supercars and established GT drivers will put him on the radar of Bathurst 12 Hour teams.
“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,” said Leitch.
“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.”
“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.”
Leitch flagged a return to GT World Challenge Australia in 2025.
“All going to plan, we’ll be back next year and standing on the top step of the podium more often than not,” he said.
Leitch will close out his racing season in Europe with the final round of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and the Lamborghini World Finals at Jerez in Spain.
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