McLeod thrives at home race in Canada winning first championship point
WINDSOR, Ontario (Canada) – The history of the Red Bull Air Race is littered with veterans who crumbled under the heavy pressure and demands of racing in their home countries but Canada’s high-flying rookie ace Pete McLeod clearly thrived in the hothouse environment and picked up the first championship point of his fledgling career on Sunday in Windsor. McLeod finished a career-high 11th to collect one championship point on Sunday. He had been “punching above his weight” all week in training and into Qualifying, moving off the bottom of the 15-pilot field with a run of good results. Even though his Edge 540 is some 75 pounds heavier than most of his rivals, McLeod was giving a number of vets a run for their money in front of a frenzied hometown crowd of 290,000 during the race weekend.
“It's been awesome,” said McLeod, 25. “We made really good progress. It was really, really cool to be racing in Canada. It’s a wonderful experience to come and race here in my rookie season, to be the first Canadian in the world championship. It’s something really special and something I’ll always remember.”
McLeod had finished dead last, 15th, in both Abu Dhabi and San Diego but did not let the poor results get to him even if the three other rookies were all getting into the points awarded for 1st to 11th place. Instead, he and his team did everything they can to learn, learn and learn. He also learned that vets such as Americans Mike Mangold, Brits Paul Bonhomme and Steve Jones as well as Hungary's Peter Besenyei had in the past all had some problems in some of their home races.
All that learning paid off in Windsor for McLeod, who was the epitome of tranquility all weekend. After getting to the Top 12 automatically by virtue of a sterling 10th place in Qualifying on Saturday, McLeod was having a superb run on Sunday in the Top 12 and on track for an excellent time of 1:48.48 that would have been good enough for 10th place and just fractions of a second out of 9th. But instead picked up a 2-second penalty near the end of his run and had to settle for 11th. It was still a great show -- considering rookies often fail to score a single point their entire first season.
“I’m still really surprised by this and I’m really looking forward to racing in Canada again because I think it’s a big advantage for me,” McLeod said, adding the big crowd helped even if he couldn’t hear their deafening cheers inside the cockpit. “Obviously when we’re in the track we can’t hear the crowd but it’s cool. There’s been a lot of really positive energy for me in Canada.”
McLeod is still planning to try to learn as much as he can this year and hopes to be battling for the championship by the time he’s 30. He’s also looking forward to the next race in Budapest.
“It’s a classic race, it’s the iconic race of the championship – sort of like what Monaco to the Formula One is,” he said. “I’ve watched it for a number years and dreamed of being there in the race myself, coming into the track under the Chain Bridge. It’s going to be really special. I’m really looking forward to Budapest. I had a great time in Europe trying to get into the championship and now I’m going as part of the championship. It’s cool.”
