Motoring
Southland race driver Brendon Leitch is celebrating an ‘unbelievable’ breakthrough race winning weekend in the FIA Formula 4 USA Championship having won the rain-affected opening race at the Mid Ohio circuit and taken podiums in the following two to win the weekend outright.
Leitch is contesting the Championship with the Kiwi Motorsport team and says savvy race strategy helped him take a win that saw him rocket from 19th in a first lap melee to first at the chequered flag.
Starting eighth on the grid in that first 30 minute race, he surged through to the early lead but was then caught up in a multiple-car tangle and regained the track 19th overall.
“I thought it was all over at that point.”
Known for his gritty determination behind the wheel, Leitch was not about to give up. Battling through the field he overtook car after car on a drying track and climbed all the way up to fifth overall with two laps to go – hardly enough distance to safely set up an overtake for the lead.
But when heavy rain started to fall, the leader slid off the track and Leitch was able to call on his many seasons of racing karts and single seaters in the wet at his home track, Teretonga.
“I kept it together and gently brought the car home for our first win. I’m totally rapt!”
In his blog, the talented Kiwi said he was happy to have delivered a top result for the team. He credited the victory to a decision to use slick tyres on a wet but drying track.
“We made a brave move to go out on slicks and as the race progressed I pushed through the field setting fastest lap of the race and came away with the win,” he said.
The Kiwi driver then capped the win with third overall in the second race despite an early spin. He then finished second overall in the final event, conclusively winning the weekend outright and announcing his presence as a force in the championship.
Leitch started the weekend in 16th place in the standings and the win propels him into championship contention, fifth with three rounds still remaining. He says his medium-term goal remains to build contacts in the United States with the aim of testing and securing a drive in a major US-based single-seater category.