Series Leader Leitch Claims First Win of Season

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe points leader Brendon Leitch claimed his first victory of the season in the second of two races at the Nürburgring.

The Leipert Motorsport driver also finished second in Race 1 to maintain his 100 percent podium record in six races and draw 10.5 points ahead of Mattia Michelotto and Gilles Stadsbader, who won Saturday’s 50-minute contest before slipping to 12th on Sunday.

Michelotto and Stadsbader’s weekend started strongly as they converted pole position to victory in Race 1 aboard their VSR Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2.

Pole-sitter Michelotto maintained his advantage at the start as eventual Pro-Am winner Frederik Schandorff slotted into second ahead of Pro challenger Amaury Bonduel whose position was soon taken by Edoardo Liberati.

Leitch advanced from seventh to fifth during the opening stint and emerged from his mandatory pit stop in clean air that enabled him to leapfrog Bonduel during the cycle.

As the Pro-Am cars started by Schandorff and Liberati dropped back with their amateur co-drivers Alex Au and Martin Ryba behind the wheel, Leitch started to concentrate on catching race leader Stadsbader but a mistake at Turn 4 impeded his progress.

Stadsbader went on to win by six seconds, with Leitch in second and Bonduel third.

The second race saw Michelotto and Stadsbader only score one point toward the Pro championship after they started from outside the top ten and Stadsbader spun into the tire barriers before continuing.

At the head of the field, Bonduel started from pole after two laps under the safety car to enable drivers to wear in their slick tires under drying track conditions.

The BDR Competition driver and Pro-Am leader Loris Spinelli dueled when racing got underway, and their battling enabled Daan Arrow to briefly seize the lead before Spinelli got back ahead.

Spinelli then set about building a buffer for his driving partner Andrzej Lewandowski, but a safety car occurred at the start of the pit window after an accident at Turn 1.

Leitch, who moved up one position from fifth in the early stages, pitted at the first opportunity while Spinelli and Arrow waited to come in.

The Leipert driver emerged in third, ahead of Bonduel, with Lewandowski leading from Arrow’s co-driver Abbie Eaton.

Leitch gained second when he dived past Eaton at the Turn 11 right-hander before Bonduel took third, and then completed a similar maneuver on Lewandowski at Turn 12 to capture the lead while covering off Bonduel’s attempt to squeeze through.

Leitch went on to beat Bonduel to the line by 1.5 seconds as Lewandowski earned an overall podium in addition to his and Spinelli’s Pro-Am win.

“We’re still getting to grips with the tires in qualifying, so we had to move through the field in the race,” said Leitch.

“I got a bit of an undercut on Spinelli and then got myself into clean air, which is where the car really works well. Then I had to be quite smart with the pass for the lead, so I sold him [Lewandowski] a little dummy and then got the inside line.”

Am class honors were shared between Ibrahim Badawy, who became the first Egyptian winner in Super Trofeo, and Gabriel Rindone.

Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matic completed a weekend sweep in LB Cup driving for Bonaldi Motorsport.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2