Leung Targeting Future Le Mans Entry With Paradine Squad
Photo: SRO/JEP
Darren Leung is targeting a future 24 Hours of Le Mans entry for his Paradine Competition squad, believing the team has now “broken well clear of the ‘who the hell are these guys?’ territory.”
The operation only became an entrant in its own right in 2025, shortly after Leung won the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Bronze class title with Dan Harper in a Century Motorsport-entered BMW that featured significant Paradine involvement.
GTWC Europe has been the team’s main focus since and it has achieved several class victories, most recently in the Bronze division of the Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours earlier this month when Leung triumphed in a BMW M4 GT3 EVO alongside Augusto Farfus.
Team founder Leung told Sportscar365 he is very “proud” of the way the squad has developed from being an unknown contender to a “respectable position whereby we’re able to compete with some of the best teams in the paddock.”
“I’m really pleased with how that’s going,” he added. “We’re just consolidating everything and trying to repeat what we’ve done for the past couple of years.
“The ultimate aim for the team is to be able to win an entry to Le Mans.
“That’s really where I would like the team to get to — it’s very clear that’s what I want to do — so we’ve got to win a championship basically.”
Leung currently sits second in the GTWC Europe Bronze Cup standings, with the season-long winner securing an auto-invite to the French endurance classic.
Last year’s Bronze Cup champions, Kessel Racing’s Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall, which finished ninth in Blattner’s Le Mans debut this year courtesy of the invite, currently lead the standings.
While Leung finds watching the team’s progress very “rewarding” he still enjoys racing himself including in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“It’s very fulfilling,” he said. “I’m the sort of guy that needs something to chase and bite down into and motorsport for me is 98 percent blood, sweat, tears and heartache and 2 percent it’s the best day of your life — and there’s not much in between.
“It’s something that’s very special and I get to make some great memories with the family because the family travel around with me.
“And I want them to see first-hand that the world is 98 percent blood, sweat, tears and heartache and 2 percent it’s the best thing ever.
“You’ve got to choose: are you going to chase it, or are you going to let it go by, and that’s kind of what motorsport is all about.
“It brings together like-minded people and that’s another really enjoyable aspect of coming racing for me.”
Leung Supporting “Mini Augusto” Vicky Farfus in Ginetta Junior Ranks
Leung shares a WRT BMW with Farfus in the LMGT3 ranks of the WEC in addition to their GTWC Europe Sprint Cup campaign, but the pair also have a further connection in the world of Ginetta Junior racing in the UK.
Farfus’ daughter Vicky is one of two drivers Paradine runs in the SRO Motorsports Group-operated championship that is open to aspiring racers aged between 14 and 17 years old.
Vicky Farfus has taken a best result so far this year of 12th, despite Leung saying she entered the season on the back foot compared to some of her rivals.
“She’s like a mini-Augusto!” Leung added. “She’s got a phenomenal amount of talent, great work ethic, good attitude, fiery Brazilian spirit just like her dad, so it’s been a real pleasure to watch that and enjoy.
“She’s been doing really, really well. She’s come into the year with far less testing than most of the other kids and she’s shown she’s got the potential to run in the top-ten quite comfortably so I think by the end of the year we should be on for seeing some exciting results from a very fresh rookie in that championship.”
Leung described her being a part of the Paradine operation as an “extra shared common experience” between himself and Augusto Farfus.
“Sometimes we’re talking about our own races, sometimes we’re talking about Vicky’s, so it’s quite enjoyable,” said Leung.
Source: Sports Car 365