Results – Pete McLeod

July 24, 2018 Pete Mcleod No Comments

It’s Texas! Red Bull Air Race World Championship final announced

After a two-year absence, the new dimension of motorsport will return to the Texas Motor Speedway in a big way on 17-18 November 2018, for the first Red Bull Air Race World Championship final ever held in Fort Worth, USA.

Salzburg, Austria – Texas is famed as a place where everything is enormous, and the motorsport mecca of the Metroplex region – Texas Motor Speedway – will serve up a whopper of a welcome for the biggest battle of the Red Bull Air Race season. Across two days of heart-pounding action, an international field will fly at 230mph (370kmh) in the infield of the 1.5-mile oval, at eye level with spectators and pulling up to 12G in the final push to clinch the World Championship.
While Texas Motor Speedway is typically the playground of stars from NASCAR and IndyCar racing, the superspeedway has hosted the Red Bull Air Race twice previously, in 2014 and 2015. Odds are strong that this time, American fans will finally see a home favorite donning the traditional cowboy hat on the race podium: two-time titleholder and Texas native Kirby Chambliss is a perpetual threat in the lineup, and Massachusetts-born Michael Goulian is having the season of his career, making the Final Four in every race through the calendar’s midpoint.
As for the pilots who will claim the World Championship podium in the Lone Star State, with four races of the eight-stop season yet to come, and 14 of the world’s best pilots in contention, it is still too soon to call. Australia’s Matt Hall, hungry as a two-time overall runner-up (2015, 2016), holds the top of the leaderboard only two points ahead of the confident Goulian. But the second-place finisher from 2017, Czech ace Martin Šonka, is closing in fast at third, while dazzling young Frenchman Mika Brageot has surpassed all expectations in leaping up to fourth. On their heels are two powerful forces – defending World Champion Yoshihide Muroya of Japan and 2016 title-winner Matthias Dolderer of Germany – both poised to make a move.
“The people of Fort Worth have been wonderful hosts in the past, and we’re delighted to be able to shine a global spotlight on the Metroplex region by crowning our 2018 World Champion at Texas Motor Speedway,” says Erich Wolf, General Manager of Red Bull Air Race GmbH. “As the margins of victory get tighter and tighter, the Red Bull Air Race season finale only becomes more thrilling. Last year the title came down to the final seconds of the final round, and we can’t wait to see what happens this November.”
“This is probably the most unique event we have ever hosted,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. “You sit in the stands and look down to see the airplanes race through the track of pylons. We appreciate the Red Bull Air Race ’s faith in us by awarding the final 2018 Championship race to Texas Motor Speedway.”

Also reaching their season climax in Texas will be the pilots of the second competition category of the Red Bull Air Race, the Challenger Class, where US charger Kevin Coleman of Louisiana hopes to make a bid for his career-first Challenger Cup.
Season finale tickets are on sale now! To grab a seat in Texas and at all the stops in the exciting second half of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship season, visit www.redbullairrace.com.
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Red Bull Air Race 2018 Calendar
2-3 February: Abu Dhabi, UAE
20-22 April: Cannes, France
26-27 May: Chiba, Japan
23-24 June: Budapest, Hungary
25-26 August: Kazan, Russia
15-16 September: Wiener Neustadt, Austria
6-7 October: Indianapolis, USA
17-18 November: Fort Worth, USA

About Red Bull Air Race
Created in 2003, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship has held more than 80 races around the globe. The Red Bull Air Race World Championship features the world’s best race pilots in a pure motorsport competition that combines speed, precision and skill. Using the fastest, most agile, lightweight racing planes, pilots hit speeds of 370 kmh while enduring forces of up to 12G as they navigate a low-level slalom track marked by 25-meter-high, air-filled pylons. In 2014, the Challenger Cup was conceived to help the next generation of pilots develop the skills needed for potential advancement to the Master Class that vies for the World Championship.

For more editorial content, please visit www.redbullairracenewsroom.com.

September 8, 2017 Pete McLeod No Comments

Four in a row: McLeod claims Porto pole

A crowd of 250,000 were cheering In Porto, Portugal on Saturday, as Canada’s Pete McLeod clinched the top time in Qualifying for the fourth Red Bull Air Race stop in a row. Overall World Championship leader Kirby Chambliss of the United States clocked the second-best result, and in one of Porto’s biggest stories, Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya came back from technical problems to take third. Race Day in Portugal is Sunday.

Porto (PORTUGAL) – It’s been eight years since Porto hosted a Red Bull Air Race, and the huge crowds were breathless with anticipation. McLeod’s 1:07.192 was the class of the field, a full three-quarters of a second ahead of Chambliss. The American’s time of 1:07.942 barely edged out not only Muroya (1:07.972), but also Petr Kopfstein of the Czech Republic (1:07.979).

The excitement is even higher because with just three races to go, the World Championship standings are as tight as the Porto racetrack – and in two of three previous Porto races, the winner has gone on to clinch the World Championship. Chambliss, Muroya, Czech pilot Martin Šonka and McLeod are locked within a two-point spread at the top of the overall leaderboard, with Kopfstein right behind in fifth overall. When Qualifying finished on Saturday afternoon, Muroya may have been the most relieved: His team put in an exceptional effort to repair a crack discovered in their raceplane’s airframe on Thursday, finishing final inspections only on Saturday morning. While Šonka finished seventh in Qualifying, he’s expected to be a real threat on Race Day, as he set the Porto track record in Free Practice with 1:06.222.

In the Red Bull Air Race, the pilots who finish fastest in Qualifying race head to head with the pilots at the bottom of the timesheet. McLeod will go up against Chile’s Cristian Bolton, who did not start in Qualifying because of a radio issue, and Chambliss will face off with Spain’s Juan Velarde, who also was unable to start Qualifying because of propeller damage in Free Practice.

“We’ve had a good season but no wins yet. The plane is running good, flying’s good and the team is working well together. We need a bit of luck and things to go our way on Race Day,” said McLeod, who has earned three podiums in 2017. “To come out with two second places this season and think it’s underperforming shows how far we’ve come. There’s a lot of speed out there, and if I do my job well, we’ve got the chance to win.”

McLeod earned his fourth consecutive DHL Fastest Lap Award for flying the fastest single lap among the two-lap Qualifying runs. At the 2017 finale, the pilot with the most awards will be presented with the DHL Fastest Lap trophy, and the Canadian’s new tally assures him of the honor