Tough lessons driving Leitch’s GT World Challenge Australia title quest

Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles have their sights set on winning the GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS title and reckon they know just how to do it.

The Kiwis were among the quickest pair in their maiden campaign together, winning on debut at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit a year ago in their Dayle ITM-backed Audi R8 LMS GT3.

Throughout 2024, the pair were regularly in the hunt for race wins and podiums but ultimately couldn’t replicate their breakthrough Phillip Island performance.

In the end, the duo were sixth in the standings – a result that was by no means representative of their outright speed.

A raft of penalties put them out of contention on several occasions, and if it wasn’t the referee giving them a yellow card it was a puncture that robbed them of another win.

Reflecting on his first year with Miles, Leitch said he wants to reward Miles for giving him a career lifeline.

“After winning the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe championship in 2023, we began 2024 not knowing where I would race. We were made some promises but what we hoped to do in Europe didn’t pan out,” Leitch explained.

“I’m very thankful for Tim. He gave me a chance when things were looking pretty bleak and winning the second race at Phillip Island vindicated Tim’s faith in me and our decision to move from Germany to Australia.

“Last year was incredible despite the end result. We definitely didn’t get as many wins as we would have liked when we had so many opportunities, but we definitely made a point.

“I think it was definitely those races that really put my name on people’s radar, and if not for that I probably would never have got the chance to test at Supercar with Matt Stone Racing or race in the Bathurst 12 Hour with Wall Racing.

“We’ve got continuity going into 2025. We’ve got the same driver line-up, the same team, the same awesome looking car, and the same supporters. However, we’re going to take a different approach.

“This year is all about being smart. Last year we made too many basic mistakes, which meant we were penalised a lot. If we have to consolidate, we will, and I think maximising the bad days will put us in good stead for the season finale.”

Letich and Miles entered the last round of the 2024 championship mathematically in the running to win the title. However, they dropped from third to sixth after a drive-through penalty in the final after a barn-storming drive by the Invercargill-born driver on his Bathurst debut.

“Bathurst was one of the wildest weekends of my life. Putting it on pole position having never driven the track before against some experienced guys like Will Brown, Jaxon Evans, and Jayden Ojeda is already a career highlight.

“We should have won that race if not for leaving our pit box milliseconds too early. I’ve tried not to dwell on it, but I’d be lying if I said it’s not motivating me.

“This year the season finishes at Hampton Downs, so it would be amazing if we could win the championship in front of a home crowd. That’s the goal.”

Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles will begin their 2025 season in the Dayle ITM Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 LMS GT3 at the Phillip Island GT Festival on April 4-6 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries program.

Practice begins on Friday before qualifying on Saturday to determine the grid for race one and two. The first race on Saturday gets underway at 3:50pm AEDT. Race two is scheduled for 1:45pm AEST on Sunday.