A veteran of the Toyota Racing Series and with a fast-developing CV in the world of GT racing – including an impressive class win in 2021 – at only 26 years of age, Invercargill-born Brendon Leitch is a familiar figure in the Kiwi motor racing scene.

ABOUT

Motorsport is in the blood for Invercargill-born Brendon Leitch, who spent his formative years on-track racing karts alongside his brother Damon, as well as his father Barry’s Formula Atlantic Ralt RT4 before progressing to the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship in 2007. He secured third overall in the series in 2012 at the age of 16 and took second place in the legendary primer series the following year.

The cauldron of Kiwi single-seater racing that is the Toyota Racing Series beckoned next for Leitch who, alongside brother Damon, managed a 16^th placing in the 2014 running of the internationally-feted championship – including a sixth-place result in his rookie season’s Timaru round.

While the following year’s season result was a slightly better 14^th placing, individual efforts at individual rounds proved greater than the sum of their parts. Leitch was on stunning form in the 2015 season, and especially at his home round in Teretonga where he drove the then-brand-new Tatuus FT-50 chassis in superb fashion, putting it on pole and winning the 20-lap feature race.

Before 2021’s stellar season, 2016 stands out as a career milestone for Leitch, with a third-place overall finish in the Toyota Racing Series and a win at the season’s final round at Manfeild. As best-placed Kiwi driver, Leitch was also awarded the Bruce McLaren trophy and the Steele Memorial trophy at that year’s annual Motorsport New Zealand awards evening.

Proving the adage that motor racing can indeed be a cruel sport at times, Leitch followed up the highs of 2016 with a challenging 2017 Toyota Racing Series season. Crashing twice – once in appalling conditions at Teretonga and in spectacular fashion during the final round at Manfeild – the young driver still managed to build experience and snatch victory at the Taupo round, before closing out the season in ninth overall.

The 2017 season also saw Leitch head to the Northern Hemisphere for the first time, competing in the American US F4 Championship on some of America's most iconic circuits. Again, plenty of challenges presented themselves in the United States, but Leitch managed to finish the season fourth overall, in a field of 30 competitors. 

Leitch improved on his 2017 performance in the 2018 Toyota Racing Series, with emphatic wins at Taupo and Manfeild seeing him finish seventh in the Championship. This year would also prove a definitive one for the Kiwi as he positioned himself behind the wheel of a GT car for the first time, piloting the ITM Mike Racing Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 car with teammate Christina Orr-West to some impressive results. These included pole position in round one, second overall in round two and third overall in round three. Leitch and Orr-West also finished second overall for the North Island Endurance Series and won the GTA class outright.  

This experience in GTs saw Leitch move to the hotly contested Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Pro-Am class with Leipert Motorsport in 2019, while also adding three podiums to his tally in the Toyota Racing Series and a third place overall in the series.

2021 SEASON RESULTS

Suffice to say, 2021 will be etched into the book as a career highlight year for Brendon Leitch.

As part of a five-man team in the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3, the Giltrap Group backed driver took out the 2021 24H Series GT3 Pro championship in the International GT Open league – the young Kiwi’s first such title.

During the course of the year Leitch racked up three wins, four podiums, three pole positions and a fastest lap from eight races.

The 2021 24H Series GT3 Pro championship title was won at Sebring as part of the first ever 24-hour endurance race to take place at the iconic central Florida circuit, which is usually home to 12-hour endurance racing.

Leitch drove alongside Tyler Cooke, Dennis Fetzer, Sebastian Balthasar, and Seb Morris.

A driver error during the 14^th hour of the 24 Hours of Sebring put Leitch’s team out of contention in the GT3 class after their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 hit a wall. It was an incident Leitch described as “cruel”, but after only racing in New Zealand during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience of racing at night for the first time, and the GT3 Pro championship win, left him feeling exuberant and looking forward to next season.

It has been confirmed that Leitch will contest GT World Challenge Europe with Leipert Motorsport in the Endurance Cup in 2022.