Brendon Leitch returns for the third time this season to the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France to compete in the fourth round of the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup. Along with teammate Gerhard Watzinger, the pairing will compete in a 110-minute race in the GT3 category driving the #70 Crowdstrike Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 prepared by Leipert Motorsport.
“I’m looking forward to the weekend,” commented Letich. “I think we should have a strong performance.”
Leitch was last at Circuit Paul Richard in early June competing in both the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe as well as the opening round of the 2023 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe (one-make) series.
“It’s the third time this season having both tested and raced earlier in the year,” said Leitch. “I honestly think it is an awesome track and probably the hardest on the calendar. It’s very technical and the last part is very long and hard to get it right. Straight-line speed is very important as the back straight is very long.”
It’s been two long and tough weeks for the Leitpert Motorsport Team repairing the #70 Crowdstrike Lamborghini Huracán after a nasty accident ended their competing in the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium.
“The team have done an incredible job with the car being rebuilt and finished just yesterday,” said Letich. “It had to go back to the Lamboghini factory in Italy and has a whole new rear end put on it. The boys have worked some huge hours to get it ready so very appreciative of their hard work.
“It’s been on the factory jig and almost brand-new again so a quick shake-down and we should be good to go.”
Leitch is expecting a hot afternoon’s racing with both drivers taking their turn behind the wheel for approximately 60-minutes depending on their pitstop strategy.
Leitch’s Lamborghini is one of three competing in the GT3 category also featuring Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Honda, and Porsche marques. They will be part of a 42-car grid of mainly LMP3 machinery.
Twenty points splits the top five cars in the GT3 championship standings with the #86 HCR CaffeineSix Porsche of Tim Creswick and Anders Fjordbach having a six-point advantage over their nearest rivals Frenchmen Arnold Robin and Valentin Hasse Clot (#10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin Vantage). Leitch and Watzinger sit seventh overall in both the driver and teams points tables.
“There are two other quick Lambo’s competing so it will be quite cool to compare how we go with them.”
Qualifying takes place at lunchtime Saturday while racing gets underway at 5pm local time.
Overall Points (GT3 Category) after 3/6 rounds
1/ #10 Racing Spirit of Léman, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, 32
2/ #86 HCR with CaffeineSix, Porsche 911 GT3 R (991), 27
3/ #18 Team Parker Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), 23
4/ #51 AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3, 21
5/ #88 GMB Motorsport, Honda NSX GT3 Evo22, 18
6/ #55 GMB Motorsport, Honda NSX GT3 Evo22, 10
7/ #63 Iron Lynx, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2, 6
8/ #70 Leipert Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2, 5
9/ #64 Team Parker Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R (991), 4
10/ #83 AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3, 3
11/ #19 Leipert Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2, 3
12/ #42 Steller Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS Evo II, 1
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