Damon Leitch to line up in New Zealand Grand Prix

Damon Leitch to Line up in New Zealand Grand Prix

Invercargill's Toyota Racing Series star Damon Leitch will line up in the country's most prestigious domestic motor race, the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild Park in Feilding this weekend.

The Grand Prix is the final race of this weekends round at the Manawatu circuit and also the final race after five weekends of series action.

This years series has again been highly competitive and hotly contested with a quality line up of drivers from all over the world. The pace of the series was best demonstrated at Timaru recently when nine drivers went under the previous lap record in qualifying. That level of competition has made qualifying crucial and as Leitch looked ahead to Manfeild this weekend he identified qualifying as really important to his chances. "Qualifying is a big thing that I really need to focus on. I will use Thursday and Friday testing to make sure the Post Haste Couriers Toyota is good."

Damon, who finished third in the series last season, currently lies seventh in this years points. Hampton Downs last weekend proved to be a difficult round for him as he several times fell victim to the fact that parts of the circuit were breaking up. However he is still well placed in the points and is keen to climb as high as he can this weekend. Manfeild has been a good circuit for the young Southlander in the past and he will hoping it will prove so again this weekend.

Qualifying takes place from 11.00am on Saturday morning with the opening race of the final round, the Dan Higgins Memorial Trophy over 20 laps, timed to start at 3.00pm on Saturday afternoon. The second race, over 15 laps, takes place at 11.00am on Sunday morning with the New Zealand Grand Prix to be raced over 35 laps due to start at 3.00pm on Sunday afternoon.

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

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