Nationality Australian Name Leigh Diffey | Employer NBC | |
 | ||
Born 3 March 1971 (age 53) ( 1971-03-03 ) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Occupation American sports commentator Profiles | ||
Iracing explained by leigh diffey
Leigh Diffey (born 3 March 1971 in Brisbane) is an Australian American auto racing commentator with NBC Sports in the United States. He has also worked in Britain and in his homeland of Australia, where he commentated on Champ Car and V8 Supercars for Network Ten in Australia.
Contents
- Iracing explained by leigh diffey
- NBC Sports Leigh Diffey Checking in at New York International Auto Show
- Early career
- Speed career
- Network Ten career
- NBC Sports
- Citizenship
- References
NBC Sports Leigh Diffey Checking in at New York International Auto Show
Early career
Diffey's first job in broadcasting came in 1990 at the age of 19, calling Ipswich Motorcycle Club racing at Tivoli Raceway. Diffey also worked as a primary school teacher at Ipswich Grammar School but left in 1995 to pursue a full-time career in television and sportscasting.
Prior to his move to the United States, Diffey commented on the Superbike World Championship and presented coverage of the World Rally Championship for the BBC in the United Kingdom. He worked alongside Steve Parrish who along with Diffey, shared a mutual friend - the late Barry Sheene. Sheene was instrumental in joining Diffey and the BBC together.
Speed career
In 2001 Diffey moved to the US and covered the CART series for ESPN filled in for Jeremy Shaw International alongside Ben Edwards at the Rockingham Motor Speedway (United Kingdom) and the Lausitzring (Germany).
In 2003, Diffey was hired by Speed. At Speed, Diffey was the play-by-play announcer for the network's coverage of the Speed World Challenge, the American Le Mans Series, the Rolex Sports Car Series, the Rolex Grand-Am Cup, the SCCA Trans-Am Series, and an occasional The Speed Report anchor and Formula One host. He also did occasional lap-by-lap coverage of the NASCAR Busch North Series.
In 2008, Diffey filled in for Speed commentator Bob Varsha during the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix. Varsha was unable to assume his usual role due to his covering the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Las Vegas, NV. Diffey also did two Formula One on FOX broadcasts in 2010.
Diffey also filled in for Ralph Sheheen for the 2008 AMA Motocross Championship.
Diffey, Bob Varsha and Krista Voda later became the mainstays of The Speed Report - the network's popular Sunday evening wrap of the week's news and results. Leigh has also commentated selected rounds of the AMA Superbike and AMA Motocross Championships.
Network Ten career
At the end of 2004, Diffey left the network for family reasons. He returned to his native Australia where he covered V8 Supercars and Formula One for Network Ten. He did, though, return to Speed on occasion to call the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans. Diffey was a regular host for Network Ten's nightly sports wrap, Sports Tonight, and also did commentary on such events as the Australian Supercross Masters series. His last Sports Tonight broadcast was 3 December 2006. He announced that he was returning to the United States where he rejoined Speed starting with the 2007 Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona.
NBC Sports
In November 2012, NBC Sports announced that Diffey would join its network to become the play-by-play announcer for its broadcasts of both Formula One and IndyCar events from 2013. The announcement named David Hobbs and Steve Matchett as the analysts who would work alongside him.
He also worked on NBC's Olympic Coverage as well, covering luge, skeleton, and bobsled. He made his NASCAR debut as a play-by-play announcer for the Xfinity Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Diffey also commentated the Richmond, Dover and Kansas NXS races.
In December 2015, Diffey, Hobbs and Matchett were given an Honorable Mention in a list of Best Broadcast Teams of the year published on the Sports Illustrated website SI.com.
In 2017 Diffey will be the lead announcer for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen and Michigan, filling in for regular NASCAR announcer Rick Allen who will be working in London with NBC's coverage of the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.
Citizenship
Diffey obtained his United States citizenship in 2011.