Kiwi drivers Brendon Leitch and Tim Miles twice stood on the podium at the latest round of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS at Queensland Raceway.
The pairing has continued to gain points on the leading contenders in the Dayle ITM Team MPC Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II as in Queensland it was a contender for both race wins and podiums. While still holding third overall, Leitch and Miles have reduced the deficit to the overall leaders to just three points.
“It couldn’t have gone too much better,” commented Leitch. “I think that we got the most points for the weekend, our best one racing together, so super happy with that.”
Initially in Friday practice Leitch set the pace with a 1m 06.852 lap to hold a 0.0279s advantage from Supercars driver Will Brown in the sister Shaw & Partners/Kelso Electrical Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Yet it was the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jayden Ojeda achieving pole in the first of two 20-minute qualifying sessions on Saturday morning ahead of Brown, with Leitch settling for seventh on the grid.
“Quali was shocking for me,” said Leitch. “There was a dramatic track temp change that caught us out by a couple of tenths.”
Miles qualified fifth on the grid with Brown's co-driver Brad Schumacher on pole for the opening one-hour race on Saturday afternoon.
The opening one-hour race on Saturday was a drama filled with several safety card periods. Miles, starting first, brought the Audi in for the compulsory driver change soon after the 30 minute-mark while the field was under a safety car period with Leitch rejoining in sixth.
“The cars were out of sync and unfortunately, we first got pinged for an unsafe release in the pits. Then on the restart there was a bit of drama and I had the car in front of me lift and I again, got pinged due to an overlap.
“Anyway, I got through and passed a couple of Am cars in the front and had some clear air and tried build a lead back to second.”
Although he broke the lap record, Leitch was unable to build enough margin and had to settle for third, yet still on the podium. It was the series’ fifth winner from as many races after Team BRM/ACM Finance’s Mark Rosser and Alex Peroni took the win.
The action for the Dayle ITM Audi in Sunday’s second 60-minute race happened on the opening lap with Leitch storming from sixth to second. In essence, that was the race settled for the first two placings with Miles able to maintain position to cross second behind the Brown/Schumacher Audi, who become the first repeat Pro-Am race winners of the season.
“That was a great lap,” said Leitch. “It wasn’t easy. I think our tyres were in better shape and it came down to (tyre) temperature and preparation in the warmup lap which meant we had more grip.
“Tim was so fast as well in that race and really pushing hard. In the end we said to him to just bring it home without taking any unnecessary risks, which he did.
“We have made some good progression over the season so far. Both of us are getting more used to the car, and we have got up to speed really fast in practice leading up to the weekend. I think that circuit in particular suited the Audi compared with the other tracks.”
The next round for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS is the inaugural SRO GT Festival at Phillip Island on August 23-25.