How McLeod is prepping for Sandown Super3 showdown
Young gun Cameron McLeod is a prolific racer and he has enhanced this reputation by mastering MARC Cars before Super3 heads to Sandown.
To get himself ready for the start of the second half of the Dunlop Series season, McLeod took part in the MARC Cars Australia championship at the recent SpeedSeries round at the Victorian circuit.
The teenager performed by dominating the first two races and showing enough speed to win the third, but just fell short to Daniel Jilesen after receiving a handicap penalty in the pits.
However, McLeod still won the round, giving him plenty of confidence around the iconic track before he drives the Nissan Altima around it for the first time on Friday.
“It is always a good weekend racing with the MARC car blokes,” he told AUTO ACTION.
“The car was really strong in the first and second races, but for the third I always knew it was going to be tricky beating Dan.
“I had to keep pushing the whole way and I did my best. It was an enjoyable weekend.”
Daniel Jilesen denied Cameron McLeod a clean sweep at Sandown. Image: Thomas Miles
Despite the MARC Mazda being a different style car to the Nissan Altima, McLeod said it is one of the closest things he could find to a Supercar and the laps were extremely beneficial having only raced at Sandown once previously.
“I had only raced here once in the Formula Ford and it was not the greatest weekend, so I thought we would come back to get our heads around the track again,” he said.
“Especially in the MARC car which is probably the closest thing to driving a Supercar without driving a Supercar.
“It is nice and stable. It does not snap out on you or anything. Especially around turn one it just slides and holds things together quite nicely.
“Over the kerbs the Nissan will be better, but it still rides the kerbs pretty well.”
After a fact-finding mission in the MARC Mazda, McLeod now has his sights set on Super3.
The third generation driver is just three points behind rival Jobe Stewart with their arm wrestling for the title set to continue into the second half of the season.
Cameron McLeod dominated Super3 at Townsville. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Although Image Racing’s Stewart has the points lead, McLeod has the momentum after dominating on the streets of Townsville.
He won both races having set some scintillating qualifying times that gave some of the Super2 contenders a fright.
But racing the faster Super2 drivers also comes with extra danger and McLeod said finding a way to keep his nose clean is the key to success.
“Racing Jobe is good and racing the Super2 guys is fun as well,” he said.
“There is still a lot of pressure on to chase the championship. Jobe is still in front and a good driver, as is everyone else in Super3.
Cameron McLeod is looking forward to resuming his Super3 rivalry with Jobe Stewart.
“But I just need to keep my nose clean which will keep me going to the end and I will keep trying to be as fast as I can.”
Super 2 and Super 3 will stage two races this weekend at Sandown.
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