Invercargill driver Damon Leitch is third in the Toyota Racing Series points after the latest round of action at Hampton Downs in North Waikato this weekend.

Leitch compiled results of sixth, second and fifth at Hampton Downs to head to the final round at Manfeild Park in Feilding next week well in championship contention.

Meanwhile brother Brendon had a tough round after recent good results.

DAMON LEITCH THIRD IN TRS POINTS

Damon Leitch has climbed to third in the highly competitive Toyota Racing Series after the latest round at Hampton Downs this weekend.

The twenty-year-old Southlander has been driving well and scoring consistently throughout the series and again at Hampton Downs he was very much to the fore. Damon began the weekend by qualifying his Post Haste Couriers Toyota eighth and sixth in the two qualifying sessions less than half a second from pole position each time. On Saturday afternoon he began the weekend with a sixth place, a result that propelled him to third in the championship. The following morning he made his way up the field into second place with a great drive and in the finale again drove well to climb as high as fourth before a safety car period. At the restart another car tried a pass at the second corner of the 2.7 kilometre cicuit, damaging Damon’s car causing him to drop back to fifth place at the finish.

However three more superb results have Damon sitting third in the championship and best of the kiwi drivers as the series heads to the finale which incorporates the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild Park in Feilding next weekend.

TOUGH WEEKEND FOR BRENDON LEITCH

The younger of the Leitch brothers endured a tough round at Hampton Downs after some great results earlier in the series. Eighteen-year-old Brendon qualified within a second of pole in the first session but such is the competitiveness of the field that he would start twentieth in the first race. The second qualifying saw him within .666 of a second of the fastest time which saw him seventeenth fastest in the talented international field.

In Saturday afternoons race he worked his way to fifteenth with another good drive. However the following day was a complete enigma for Brendon. “The car felt completely different on Sunday. The brake balance was completely diifferent and the rear wheels were locking up. It was a complete mystery!” Brendon suffered some accident damage at one stage and endured a couple of tough races with a car that was not to his liking.

“It was a weekend to forget. We had good speed and were on the right track on Saturday. We qualified within 6/10th’s of a second from pole – there is just nothing in it in this field. The car was just completely different the following day.”