Racing at the Virginia International Raceway, he came crashing down from the high of a breakthrough event-winning weekend at the previous 2017 FIA Formula Four Championship round earlier this month.
The punishing race weekend began when he slipped off the track in qualifying on Friday.
"I decided to try something different on my last push lap to get a little bit more out of the tyre but unfortunately this time it didn’t pay off for me. It’s very out of character for me to go off in qualifying, but I was very comfortable in the ITM car so it didn’t cause me any trouble with my confidence," Leitch said.
Starting from fifth position in the weekend’s first race, Leitch surged through to third and then into the lead, at which time the car’s engine cover broke and began acting like a huge sail.
"That was incredible. I’ve never had that happen before. So without good speed I was slowly dragged back into the pack and ended up fourth at the finish, still banking good points."
Grid positions for race two were dictated by lap times set in race one and, after being hampered by the broken engine cover, Leitch was down to position 15 for the race start.
He carved through the field to eighth but was unable to progress due to an extended safety car period, which ended the race.
The weekend then totally unravelled in the third race when Leitch’s F4 car was slammed into hard by another competitor on the first lap. As a results of the damage, the open-wheeler was taken back to the pits on a truck, one sidepod crushed in and its radiators flattened.
"On the bright side, all the electronics are on the opposite side and the tub was undamaged.
"So, onward and upward to the next round at the Circuit of the Americas down in Texas."
He will get a chance to display his driving skills in front of Formula One teams there, as the Formula Four United States Championship has recently been added as a supporting category at the Formula One United States Grand Prix on October 20-22.
Leitch, who works as a mechanic and hot lap driver at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, will also be racing in front of his biggest audience to date. Last year, the Formula One United States Grand Prix broke track records with more than 269,000 people attending.
