Leitch Crowned European Champion After Dramatic Finale

Brendon Leitch won the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe title after a dramatic end to the season that saw the Pro championship battle come down to the final race.

The Leipert Motorsport driver finished 8.5 points clear of VSR’s Mattia Michelotto and Gilles Stadsbader, who won Thursday’s encounter at Vallelunga to take the lead by 1.5 points.

That put all the emphasis on Friday’s 50-minute contest, which was won by the Target Racing duo of Largim Ali and Oliver Soderstrom.

Leitch had a significant advantage considering he started seven places higher on the grid than Stadsbader, who struggled to make ground on the twisty Vallelunga track.

However, a third-placed Leitch was also under pressure as VSR driver Loris Spinelli backed up the New Zealander and ensured the title-contending car stayed within range.

After the pit stops, Michelotto climbed up the order before a safety car with 10 minutes to go — caused by a stranded Target Racing Lamborghini — brought him onto Leitch’s tail.

During the six-minute dash to the checkered flag, Michelotto threw everything at Leitch and successfully dived down the inside at Turn 8. However, the VSR entry had a pair of five-second penalties hanging over its head for collisions on either side of the stops.

Leitch, who had a smaller penalty of his own for a pit stop infringement, crossed the line right behind Michelotto which was enough for him to be classified ahead of the VSR drivers in the Race 2 and championship leaderboards.

“It was very satisfying to get it done in the end,” Leitch told Sportscar365.

“We came in on the back foot in terms of points, but on the front foot in terms of grid placement. We just did what we had to do and finished well with no mistakes.

“The team kept me updated [on the points situation via radio]. I knew they had the penalty and I had the 0.7s penalty as well. So I knew exactly what I had to do there.”

Leitch’s penalty ensured that Marzio Moretti and Sebastian Balthasar were promoted to second in Race 2, behind Soderstrom and Ali.

Frederik Schandorff led the field away from pole, but his Pro-Am car faded towards the end of the second stint with amateur driver Alex Au behind the wheel.

The same applied to Spinelli’s VSR Lamborghini, while Soderstrom and Ali regained the position they lost to Leitch in the opening stint because the solo driver needed to serve an extra three seconds during his stop.

Thursday and Friday’s track action also included separate races for the Am and LB Cup classes of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe.

Julien Piguet and Alban Varrutti swept the board in their Autovitesse car, but it was Gabriele Rindone who won the Am title after erstwhile series leader Ibrahim Badway retired with an alternator failure in the deciding race.

RESULTS:  Race 1 / Race 2