Leitch and Miles end rotten run with Queensland Raceway podium

Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles have bounced back from a tough start to their second GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS season with a podium at Queensland Raceway.

It was a weekend of rocks and diamonds for the Dayle ITM-backed Audi R8 drivers, who qualified the No.7 car inside the top five for both races at ‘The Paperclip’.

The first race of the weekend was one to forget after Miles, who started third, was tipped into a spin by another competitor on the run to the first corner.

The Mark Rosser/Alex Peroni car clattered into Miles, which caused race-ending suspension damage to the Melbourne Performance Centre-run Audi R8. It was a frustrating end to Saturday after a season-best third place qualifying effort by Miles, who was only three tenths off of the pole position time.

Leitch and Miles regrouped for Sunday, where they started fifth. Leitch, who hadn’t had any dry running all weekend to that point, leapt into the car and made a good start. The Invercargill-born driver rose to fourth and challenged Melbourne Performance Centre teammate Broc Feeney for third but settled into a rhythm.

Leitch handed the car over to Miles, who was gifted third when the Paul Lucchitti/Jayden Ojeda-driven Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG speared off the road at the third turn. From there, Miles set about hounding Stephen Wyatt in the Ferrari 296 he shared with Aaron Love.

It wasn’t long before Miles got by and set about chasing the race-leading Team BRM Audi R8 of Rosser and Peroni. A late Safety Car shrunk the gap to just a few car lengths and Miles looked like he would attempt a pass for the lead until another Safety Car period put paid to that effort.

Miles had to settle for second after a one-lap dash to the chequered flag. However, it represented a major milestone, scoring their second podium of the season together.

“It’s been pretty tough going to start the season, so to get a result like this is a relief. We know we’ve had the speed in every race, we’ve either just been slightly out of the window in qualifying or gotten ourselves needlessly into trouble,” said Leitch.

“Tim really was the standout this weekend. He qualified third and was the quickest Am all weekend by a long way. Watching that stint in the second race was pretty cool to see him lapping nearly half a second faster per lap than the guys ahead of him.”

The New Zealand pair’s hopes of winning the Pro-Am title have been hurt badly by two DNFs.

The points are currently led by Arise Racing’s Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte on 118 points while Leitch and Miles sit fourth on 53 points.

While their hopes are slim, Leitch wants to finish the season strong and give the points leaders something to think about.

“We’re three rounds in and have three rounds to go, so anything can happen,” said Leitch.

“Sandown is next, which is somewhere I’ve never raced before, so I’ll be doing plenty of laps on iRacing in between events!

“The Bend is a track we know we’ve got speed at and Hampton Downs we know we’ll be on it. I’m pretty sure I’ll have the most experience there of any driver.”

GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS continues on July 25-27 at Sandown Raceway.