Leyton arrived at the Nürburgring in early August with only one objective, to claim his first win in the BMW M2 Cup. He not only achieved this objective but went on to almost have a clean sweep of race wins during his 3-week stint in Europe. Starting from the Pole Position, Leyton claimed his first win in the BMW M2 CS Cup during Race 1. The race brought very mixed conditions and a tough battle for victory. Leyton had led the race by almost 4 seconds when a safety car was deployed which turned an easy win into a 4 lap fight to line with Max Rossum. Leyton started Race 2 from 2nd place and it became clear from early on Sunday’s race that the weather was to play a big role in the outcome of the Race 2 results and with 15 minutes left the heavens opened up. Having never raced a rear-wheel car in the rain Leyton very quickly adapted to the conditions. He was challenging for the lead when the race was red-flagged due to safety reasons. The great results from the weekend moved Leyton into 2nd Place in the overall standings in the championship.
Having claimed his first win and a double podium result at Nürburgring Leyton arrived at Dekra Lausitzring on an all-time confidence high. Having narrowly missed out on Pole Position Leyton launched his BMW M2 into first place on the race start and was never challenged for the lead. Leyton took victory by almost 3 seconds which also moved him into the lead of the championship. Leyton started Sunday’s Race 2 from Pole Position and he made another perfect start. He led the entire race but was unable to build up a comfortable lead as he had during Race 1. At the start of the penultimate lap, he was passed for the lead into turn 1 but Leyton immediately fought back and regained the lead 2 corners later. Leyton dug deep and pulled a 1 second gap on the last lap taking back-to-back wins and the fastest lap. The win and fastest lap extended Leyton’s lead in the championship to 9 Points with 2 Rounds remaining.
“The last 3 weeks were incredible. It was a very emotional day winning my first race especially at the Nürburgring. Scoring 75 Points from the 80 Points on offer from the last 2 Rounds has placed us in a great position heading into the last 2 Rounds but the job is far from done. We have a lot of momentum heading into the last races but I can definitely expect a fight back at Sachsenring in 3 weeks. I would like to thank Project 1, my coaches, and my mechanics. My team and cars have been perfect and these results were only possible as a result of an incredible team effort.”
Published by: Gerald Fourie
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