Leitch Brothers Repeat Quinella In Prestigious Wigram Cup Race

For the second year running young Southland racing drivers, brothers Damon and Brendon Leitch, have finished first and second respectively in the prestigious Wigram Cup race at Mike Pero Motorsport Park at Ruapuna in Christchurch.Damon won the race with younger brother Brendon second to repeat last years result and complete a second successive family quinella in the feature race.Both brothers described the race weekend as “laid back and a bit of fun,” as both had their first race outing since the conclusion of last season’s Toyota Racing Series, a series in which both have won against top class international opposition. Since their last race outings in February the brothers have both turned laps at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell but not in race conditions. Damon shared a Ralt RT4 with car owner and Victory Motorsport team boss Gary Orton throughout the weekend. He qualified second behind Brendon and then struggled to fourth place in the first race with gearbox problems before winning the feature race for the Wigram Cup the following day.

Meanwhile Brendon scored pole position in qualifying and won the first race by a good margin in the Ralt RT4 owned by his father Barry, a car raced by French Formula 1 ace Jacques Laffite in Australia some years ago. He then crossed the line behind Damon in the feature event on Sunday. “We made some changes for the second day and they weren’t quite right,” he said.

Both brothers thoroughly enjoyed the racing. “It was good to have a skid around and win the Wigram Cup again,” said Damon, while Brendon said, “it was good to have a bit of a play in these awesome cars. They are great cars and they have a bit of history.”