Leyton Fourie made history this past weekend (14-15 October) when he took the Global Touring Cars (GTC) SupaCup title with a race to spare at Zwartkops Raceway.
At age 17, he became the youngest champion in the series, in which he made his debut in 2022. Leyton graduated from the Polo Cup, where he won the 2021 championship. Therefore, he also joined an exclusive list of drivers to have taken two national titles before turning 18. Leyton is also still the reigning VW Challenge champion. Both his previous titles came from his first entire season of main circuit racing. Within the past 365 days, he has taken three titles with a Polo Cup and GTC SupaCup Driver of the Year award in both championship seasons, which rarely is awarded to newly-crowned champions unless it involves extraordinary efforts. This makes Leyton, who is still to announce his 2023 plans, one of South Africa’s most successful drivers in history. Leyton is the only driver to have won at least one race at each circuit this season.
Leyton set the fastest practice day time for the season finale weekend, which he followed up with the Dunlop Pole Position on Saturday morning. Quickly disposing of his challengers in Race 1, he took a lights-to-flag seventh win to take the title in his Express Hire / Universal Motorsport Polo SupaCup. In the reverse grid second race, he finished in seventh place.
“It’s been an incredible year and an amazing few seasons in circuit racing,” said Leyton. “Just the other day, I was still karting, and we were pondering which direction to head for my racing career. I was invited to test a VW Challenge Polo, knowing what I wanted to do when I climbed out of the car—having the likes of Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde as your idols made the decision that much easier. I want to follow in their footsteps as they paved the way for South African drivers, especially after Sheldon claimed the DTM Championship. I can’t thank my team enough. My car was always able to fight at the front, and this weekend was no different. I’m going to enjoy this one.”
Issued by Motorsport Fanatix on behalf of Leyton Fourie
