Invercargill driver Damon Leitch endured his toughest weekend yet in the highly competitive Toyota Racing Series at Hampton Downs in North Waikato this weekend.
Leitch has had a stellar season in his Zero Fees Toyota against international competition that has travelled from all parts of the globe and was second in the point standings heading to the penultimate round at the Hampton Downs circuit.
However little went right for the Southlander this weekend at a venue where he had been impressive last year. He is now third in the championship with one round remaining.
In short the weekend was defined by qualifying. A rear anti-rollbar fell off the car during the qualifying session and with the handling of the Zero Fees Toyota compromised Leitch could only turn in the fourteenth fastest time. Consequently the 19-year-old was faced with a weekend of fighting his way through the ultra competitive field. He went on to advance in each race, opening his account by climbing to twelfth in the opening 15 lap contest around the undulating 2.63 kilometre circuit on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday morning he climbed to an impressive seventh place at the finish only to be handed a 50 second time penalty which saw him plummet down the order in the final results. The third and final race for the NZ Motor Cup dished up more bitter disappointment. After carving his way into the top ten Leitch failed to finish the race when involved in an incident three corners from home.
"It was a tough weekend," said a disappointed Leitch on Sunday evening. After qualifying we spent the weekend making up places. We did that but it is a hard track to pass on. We had good speed but it is really hard to pass. We got up to seventh in the second race only to be penalised and then crashed this afternoon."
However after his impressive start to the series Leitch has managed to stay in the top three of the hard fought series. Aucklander Nick Cassidy, who won the round, leads while Hannes Van Asseldonk of the Netherlands who was second overall this weekend has overtaken Leitch for second.
The final round of the series takes place at Manfeild Park in Feilding next weekend where the feature race for the class will be the New Zealand Grand Prix. Leitch showed stunning speed in the Zero Fees Toyota at the track last season and is keen to put this weekends misfortunes behind him. "I'm looking forward to Manfeild. It is good to race there but it will be important to have a good qualifying."
