Leyton Fourie continued his 2023 European preparations with another strong performance at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit this weekend. Leyton competed in Round 2 of the BMW ///M Performance Parts Race Series as one of several support categories to the Joburg Kyalami 9-Hour Motorfest.
Racing the Bucket List Racing BMW 335i (F30) with the assistance of Lee Thompson Racing, Leyton made the best use of his two practice sessions on Thursday before heading into Friday morning’s Qualifying session. Leyton qualified in fifth for the opening race, again playing second fiddle to the more powerful cars in his class (Class A).
“We did as well as we could, honestly,” said Leyton after Qualifying. “Our focus remains on getting used to the characteristics of this car being a left-hand, rear-wheel drive car, which is as close to what I plan to drive in Europe. I’ll concentrate on reacting well on the start and then try and manage the tyres as well as I can, which is crucial for me to understand for the BMW M2 Cup.”
Race 1 was run later on Friday and saw the 2021 CompCare Polo Cup and 2022 GTC SupaCup Champion finish in third. Race leader, Rick Loureiro, crashed out of the race from the lead, which would see the deployment of the safety car ahead of a red-flag stoppage. Unable to restart the race before the allotted time ran out, competitors had completed sufficient laps for a race result.
Saturday morning would be the second and final race of the weekend, with Leyton starting from the second position on the grid. After reacting quickly to the start lights, Leyton was quickly out-powered down the straight ahead of turn-1 and calmly took up the fifth position as he settled into his rhythm. It, however, did not take long before the safety car would be called on again as a competitor beached himself in the kitty-litter. The race would be restarted, and Leyton would finish in fourth.
“I would have liked to complete two full race distances here this weekend, but with over 50 cars on the circuit at one time, you are bound to see numerous incidents. It was essential to get as much as we could from this weekend. Thank you to everyone for the support once again. To see so many spectators here is excellent. We’ll debrief now and then show some support to Sheldon (van der Linde) and the rest of the South African drivers,” stated Leyton.
Leyton will continue testing ahead of his BMW M2 Cup season, set to start on 26-28 May in Germany.
Published by: Motorsport Fanatix – Raymond Cornwell
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