Brendon Leitch is only looking at the positives after his #70 Crowdstrike Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 was punted off the track into retirement with just 43 minutes left to run in the opening round of the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday. Leitch and teammate Gerhard Watzinger are competing in the European series with Leipert Motorsport.
“That was unfortunate,” commented Leitch after the race. “It was no fault of our own and disappointing considering where we were placed heading into the last part of the race.”
In a two-hour race punctuated with safety-car periods, Leitch was clipped by a LMP3 (Le Mans Prototype) competitor sending his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 into a spin and into the gravel.
“We were managing quite well in the traffic with a lot of the faster LMP3 cars around us. I’d been overtaken by a Porsche GT3 when a LMP3 car had a go at me. I left the door open, giving him room and he put me into the gravel. Not what we wanted and no fault on our part.”
It had been a hectic race right from the beginning.
“Gerhard (Watzinger) did really well,” said Leitch. “His first stint was a massive improvement on testing earlier in the week. It’s his first time in a GT3 car, moving up from the Super Trofeo (category). There is not much he could have done differently and he will only improve with move time in the car.
“The car is really good, it’s fast and the handling is great. Our BoP (Balance of Performance) is not great but that is just part of it and should be better for the next round. I’m sure that the car will be more competitive at Le Mans in June which I am really looking forward to.”
The winner of the GT3 category went to the #20 Racing Spirit of LeMan Aston Martin team. With the second round at Imola, Italy, postponed, the next event is the highlight of the calendar with two one-hour races at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (8/9 June 2023).
