Leyton Fourie took a slight advantage over his Global Touring Cars (GTC) SupaCup rival, Jeffrey Kruger, on July 2, despite the pair sharing the wins at Red Star Raceway.
Leyton, at 16 years of age and still the youngest driver in the series, set Friday’s fastest GTC SupaCup practice time and was feeling confident about his pace heading into race day. Saturday morning saw him claiming his maiden Dunlop Pole Position in his Express Hire / Universal Motorsport Polo SupaCup.
While Leyton had won two races from his six starts before the weekend, both have come in the reverse-grid second races. In Saturday’s first race, he went unchallenged in a lights-to-flag victory, while in Race 2, he navigated his way through the reverse-grid carnage in the opening laps, slotting into second place on Lap 2. Kruger, who took the lead on the opening lap, was able to build an early advantage over the rest. For the remainder of the race, Leyton gradually closed in on Kruger but was not able to mount a successful challenge for the position. He finished the race as runner-up.
Along with his pole position, Leyton not only set the fastest lap in both races to take a three-point advantage over Kruger on the day, but he also recorded the fastest-ever lap in a Polo SupaCup running in the clockwise direction.
“We can be delighted with this weekend,” said Leyton. “I pushed hard in the second race, but simply ran out of time. We leave here with a slight advantage in the championship and given how closely-contested this year’s championship is, things like Dunlop Pole Positions and fastest laps could well turn out to be a deciding factor. I want to thank everyone who made this weekend possible.”
Having made his debut in the series this year, Leyton crossed the midway point of the championship as the points leader. A phenomenal rise in motorsport since making his debut in 2020 has seen Leyton claim both the 2021 VW Polo Cup and VW Challenge Championships.
Round 5 of the 2022 GTC Championship will be held on August 5-6 at the East London Grand Prix Circuit.
Issued by Motorsport Fanatix on behalf of Leyton Fourie
