Leitch Takes Second Win of Season With Last Lap Pass

Brendon Leitch completed a last lap pass to take his second win of the season during the first of two Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe races at Valencia.

The Leipert Motorsport driver wrestled his way past Oregon Team’s Sebastian Balthasar to take victory on Saturday, before finishing off the podium on Sunday as Balthasar and co-driver Marzio Moretti bounced back with a win during Race 2.

Leitch started Race 1 from the outside of the front row aboard the No. 86 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, but quickly made his way past pole sitter Amaury Bonduel as the BDR Competition driver struggled for pace in the opening phase of the race.

Moretti also passed Bonduel for second place before pitting to hand over to teammate Balthasar, with Leitch coming in from the lead a lap later.

As Leitch was required to spend three seconds longer in the pits as a single driver entry, it allowed Balthasar to take the lead away from the New Zealander on the undercut.

Bonduel, meanwhile, continued to struggle and eventually faded to eighth place while Mattia Michelotto captured third place for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing when Iron Lynx driver Rodrigo Testa made a mistake with three minutes remaining.

Leitch then fought his way past Balthasar on the final lap of the 50-minute contest to win for the second time this season, finishing just 0.531 seconds ahead of the German driver.

Balthasar and Moretti finished second, with Michelotto and Gilles Stadsbader completing the podium for Vincenzo Sospiri’s eponymous outfit.

During Race 2, Moretti then completed a late-race pass of his own to beat the VSR duo to victory after starting the race from outside the top five.

Co-driver Balthasar took the start from seventh place but made little progress even as Daan Arrow was spun round on the opening lap after contact with Michelotto.

After Moretti took the car over, he rejoined close behind the polesitting No. 28 machine of Bonduel, with the Italian even accidentally rear-ending the Frenchman as he sought a way by.

Moretti then assumed the lead when he managed to take advantage of a duel between Bonduel and Leipert Motorsport’s Leitch, only to drop back when three cars – VSR’s Stadsbaser, DL Racing’s Matteo Desideri and the No. 9 Target Racing Lamborghini driven by Oliver Soderstrom – emerged in front with a successful overcut strategy.

After overtaking Soderstrom, Moretti was promoted up to second place when Desideri tripped up chasing race leader Stadsbader, dropping the Italian out of the top five.

With two minutes remaining, Moretti then overtook Stadsbader through Turn 2 and went on to take victory by 1.856 seconds over the No. 6 car to claim their second win of the year.

Soderstrom and Largim Ali finished third, securing the first podium of the season for the Target Racing duo.

Leitch finished fourth ahead of Alex Au and Patrick Kujala, who secured the Pro-Am victory aboard the No. 81 car.

Au and Kujala shared class honors with the Iron Lynx pairing of Emanuele Zonzini and Emanuel Colombini, who took victory in Race 1.

Ibrahim Badawy followed up his breakthrough Am-class victory at the Nürburgring by winning Race 1, before Karim Ojjeh and Elie Dubelly came out on top on Sunday for Boutsen VDS.

In LB Cup, Juergen Krebs shared the spoils with Bonaldi Motorsport duo Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matic.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2