Experienced racer turned Highlands Motorsport Park track operations manager and driver Damon Leitch has confirmed he will take part in the 66th New Zealand Grand Prix, at Hampton Downs next weekend.
The 28-year-old driver is following in the footsteps of younger brother Brendon (25), who confirmed his entry earlier this week. The family comes from Invercargill.
Damon will be flying the colours of Hampton and Highlands Motorsport Park when he steps aboard the Toyota FT60 for his first competitive laps at the New Zealand Grand Prix in six seasons.
"Damon’s talent is a single-seater is second to none. He holds the unofficial lap record at Highlands, which is impressive, given most of his days now don’t involve any seat time," Hampton Downs chief operating officer Josie Spillane said.
Like Brendon, Damon has a huge amount of experience in the Castrol Toyota Racing Series, having raced in it from 2011-15, finishing third overall in both the 2012 and 2014 championships.
He is a two-time winner of the Bruce McLaren Trophy, has won in the category and has many podium finishes to his credit. He has plenty of experience in Formula Ford and karting and has also been a competitor at the Highlands 101 endurance event.
The Grand Prix is not the first time the Leitch brothers have competed in the same race, but it is still a challenge which Damon is looking forward to.
"We’ve raced together before so we know the level of rivalry we have and it’s pretty friendly being brothers," Damon said.
"It’s going to be a lot of fun racing in the event but I think most racing drivers would say that when the visors are down, it gets serious.
"I’ve got experience in the previous two types of TRS car and although this one is new, and I might tap up Brendon for a little bit of info, it’s a modern racing car and I’m looking forward to getting my head around it, getting up to speed and being competitive."
Shane van Gisbergen, Andre Heimgartner Greg Murphy, Daniel Gaunt, Chris van der Drift and up and coming stars Billy Frazer, Kaleb Ngatoa and Matthew Payne are among those set to take the start on the long circuit at the North Waikato circuit, as well as Brendon and Kenny Smith (79), who will make an unprecedented 50th start in the 66th running of the event.
A joint venture by Hampton Downs and Speed Works Events, it will run over the weekend of January 22-24, with practice, qualifying and two races for drivers before the New Zealand Grand Prix itself on Sunday over 28 laps of the circuit.
It will be the first time the Grand Prix has been held at the North Waikato circuit and the first time any Castrol Toyota Racing Series event has been held on the 4km international format track, which has 10 corners and a lap record of 1min 27.637sec.
