McLeod lights up Indy

Aussie young gun hauls KohR Mustang to podium in MPC thriller

Cameron McLeod’s American apprenticeship just got real. The young Australian dragged KohR Motorsports’ No. 60 Ford Mustang GT4 into the fight of the year at Indianapolis, then stood on the box at the Brickyard with co-driver and newly minted Mustang Challenge champion Robert Noaker.

It wasn’t the fairytale win, that was pinched with a minute on the clock by a charging McLaren, but it was the sort of debut that makes team owners stand and take notice.

The script was pure late-race cruelty. Noaker had the Mustang out front after the final restart, defending like his life depended on it, before Michael Cooper (Ibiza Farm Motorsports) and Jesse Lazare (Motorsports In Action) slingshotted their McLaren Artura GT4s past in the closing laps to lock out a McLaren 1–2 and shove the KohR pair to third at the flag.

McLeod, who’s already turned heads by sweeping the Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational in June, was typically no-nonsense about the day’s work:

“The Mustang GT4 was unreal after the team made some adjustments after qualifying. I was just full biscuits, making some moves back up the field… We’re on the podium at Indianapolis… this one is special.”

He and Noaker executed exactly the sort of tidy, pace-on stint cycle that wins these two-hour knife-fights; they just got mugged by fresher legs at the death.

Noaker, who wrapped the inaugural Mustang Challenge title this month, underlined how serious the Ford pipeline has become: “This Ford Performance Junior Team program is what I personally needed for my career… There is an effective ladder system in place for successful drivers to move up with the Mustang.” Pairing the champ with McLeod at Indy looked like a test — and the pair aced it.

The combo itself was a late-season curveball. KohR’s second Mustang has been a rotating-seat car this year, with Nick Persing and Sam Paley bagging a VIR podium last start; for Indy the team dropped in Noaker and McLeod, fresh off trading blows at Le Mans. It paid immediately, track position, smart fuel cover under yellow, and relentless pace, before the Cooper/Lazare surge rewrote the ending.

If you’re reading this in Australia and wondering “so what?”, here’s what: McLeod is on the right escalator. He’s a third-generation racer schooling himself on the world’s biggest stages — Le Mans win(s) in a Ford one-make that’s now a direct pipeline to GT4 and beyond, and a debut podium at Indy in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge, a series that routinely graduates drivers into full-blown GTD and prototypes. You want your kids racing with a ceiling? This is the ceiling — and it just moved up another floor.

The brass tacks from Indy: GS class, two hours, a late neutralisation that bunched the field and turned it into a 17-minute sprint. Noaker hung on as long as physics allowed; Cooper pounced, Lazare followed, and the Mustang grabbed what was still a very hard-earned third. Championship leaders had their own dramas with brakes and a puncture, which only sharpened the elbows up front — not McLeod’s problem, but illustrative of the chaos he just excelled in.

Cameron McLeod on the podium at Cameron McLead on his way to third on debut in the IMSA GT4 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, September 2025. Image: Ford Racing