Invercargill driver Brendon Leitch has been added to Lamborghini squad Wall Racing’s lineup for next February’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12-Hour. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
Brendon Leitch has been added to Lamborghini squad Wall Racing's lineup for next February's Meguiar's Bathurst 12-Hour.
He will join Tony D'Alberto, Grant Denyer and Adrian Deitz and compete in the distinctive white-and-red No93 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
"I was on the Lamborghini GT3 Junior, I was on their Lamborghini programme for four years and I was really trying to get on the path to being a factory driver.
"So I've got a lot of experience in Lamborghini already. So I'm really excited to pretty much get back behind the wheel of one and give this 12-Hour a good honest crack."
Leitch has been racing $1 million race cars this year from Porsche, Audi, Aston Martin and Lamborghini and has been beating some of the best Supercars drivers like Will Brown and Chaz Mostert.
For him to be able to team up with D'Alberto, Denyer and Deitz would be a great experience.
"It is like joining up with a bunch of legends. I've been watching their racing for a long time."
Born and bred in Invercargill, Leitch inherited the passion for motorsport from his parents.
His father has a company restoring and building classic cars and racing cars, and from a young age he and his brother Damon raced karts for many years, before setting out driving Formula Atlantic Ralt RT4 and the EH Ball Formula Ford at club days at local track Teretonga.
"When I was growing up, I spent every night in the garage with him [his father], building go-karts, engines and whatever anything I could get my hands on to build, I would have a try.
"So motorsport was embedded in me since I was born, pretty much, and it has been a part of my life forever."
While he moved from Invercargill when he was 18, he confessed he missed the space and the peace the place gave to him.
" I think you have a lot more space and freedom in New Zealand in general, should I say.
"But down south, like, that's something that I missed from when I was a kid, was having all that space to run around with."
He felt lucky to come from a place which breathes motorsports and believed his background helped him to achieve international podiums.
"Southland is so good for sports and I think it shows the amount of athletes that come from Southland that compete on the world stage.
"So I think it really just shows that, you know, the amazing facilities that we have down in Southland _ it just breeds athletes."
Leitch was currently living in Australia but he also made time to return home to visit family.
This week, for example, he would be arriving in town to recharge and spend some time with the family before the competition next year.
"Growing up down there definitely prepared me for everything that is going on in the present day and I love to spend time in both Invercargill and Central Otago with the family."
