How Brendon Leitch's Last-Lap Heist in Valencia Won a Championship

A three-second pit-stop penalty, four corners left, and a 1.5-second deficit — then lapped traffic changed everything.

Brendon Leitch carried a three-second solo-driver pit-stop penalty, fell over 1.5 seconds behind Oregon Team's Sebastian Balthasar, then used lapped traffic at turn 11 to dive inside and win the opening race of the Valencia Super Trofeo Europe weekend on September 16, 2023.

Equal machinery, unequal racecraft

Every entry runs an identical Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, a rear-wheel-drive race car powered by a 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10 producing around 620 horsepower, so championships are decided by driver skill, not equipment advantages.

Valencia's grid-wide chaos

Qualifying was cut short by a heavy crash, title contender Alex Au spun at the final corner on the last lap, and future championship rivals Mattia Michelotto and Gilles Stadsbader charged from 16th to third overall, proving Valencia punished anyone who relaxed before the checkered flag.

From Valencia to the World Finals podium

Leitch secured the 2023 European Pro title at Vallelunga by just 2.5 points, then went undefeated with Leipert Motorsport co-driver Anthony McIntosh at the Super Trofeo World Finals in Jerez, completing a season that began with one opportunistic lunge in Valencia.