MEDIA RELEASE
3 FEBRUARY 2013
Difficult Weekend For Damon Leitch
Round 4 of the 2013 Toyota Racing Series at Hampton Downs in Waikato this weekend proved to be a difficult one for Damon
Leitch of Invercargill.
Leitch has struggled throughout the series to get clear laps to set good qualifying times and that was the case again at
Hampton Downs as he set times good enough for twelfth and eleventh on the grid in Saturdays two qualifying sessions.
However Leitch is one man in the closely bunched field who always seems able to work his way forward in the races and
after an eventful opening lap in Saturday afternoons opening race the young Southlander had the Post Haste Couriers
Toyota up to sixth place from twelfth on the grid. However shortly after a restart he was caught out on the circuit
which was breaking up badly and bent a steering arm in contact with another car. From then on he was only able to nurse
the car home finishing seventeenth and last car running one lap down on the leaders.
The lowly finish in Saturdays race had the Southlander in seventeenth position on the grid for Sunday mornings race.
Once again he made short work of carving his way through the traffic, lifting himself to tenth place in the course of
the opening lap. A moment on the 'marbles' caused by the circuit surface breaking up again cost him a couple of spots
soon after but again he made up ground to bring the Post Haste Couriers Toyota home in eleventh place.
In the final race over 20 laps for the New Zealand Motor Cup Leitch drove through from eleventh on the grid to seventh
before another incident. "I had good speed and I was catching the group of cars in front after a safety car period when
Lucas Auer dived alongside me into a corner." Leitch left the Austrian some room for his manoeuvre but in doing so got
caught on the loose surface again and left the track, dropping down the order again to finish twelfth.
Despite the fact that it was one of his toughest weekends in the series Leitch has managed to remain seventh in the
point standings.
The car was going well at times but the track surface was breaking up and lime dust was used to fix it which made the
track very slippery," said Leitch.
The final round of the series takes place at Manfeild Park in Feilding next weekend. The feature event of the final
round will be the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Photograph - Damon Leitch and the Post Haste Couriers Toyota in action at Hampton Downs - please credit Bruce Jenkins
2013 TOYOTA RACING SERIES CALENDAR
Round 1: 12/13 January 2013 - Teretonga Park, Invercargill
Round 2: 19/20 January 2013 - Timaru International Motor Raceway, Levels Timaru
Round 3: 26/27 January 2013 - Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupo
Round 4: 2/3 February 2013 - Hampton Downs, Waikato
Round 5: 9/10 February 2013 - Manfeild Park, Feilding
ENDS