McLeod Targeting Next Step After First Mustang GT3 Test

Photo: Chris Ward

Cameron McLeod said he’s targeting a step up to GT3 competition next year after getting his first laps at the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT3 EVO on Monday at Portimao.

The 21-year-old Australian, who won the inaugural Mustang Challenge Le Mans Invitational in 2025, was named a Ford Racing Driver Development Team member this year, where he’s collected podiums in both GT4 European Series and Monochrome GT4 Australia Series competition, as part of a dual series campaign.

McLeod was one of six development drivers to take part in a two-day test, run by HRT and fully paid by Ford, following last weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS season finale.

“The GT3 [test] itself went really good,” McLeod said. “From all the GT4 and [Mustang Challenge/Cup] stuff I’ve done, it’s all been pretty easy to jump in and go and all the staff were very helpful with the e-clutches and everything that’s new to GT3 cars.

“I hopped in it and was comfortable straight away. The car was set up mega and I really enjoyed it.

“Taking it from GT4 to GT3, it’s almost been the same, just a bit more aero in GT3, which obviously does it a lot better. But’s it’s the same sort of balance and philosophy between the two cars, which I was actually a bit surprised by.

“It was quite easy, with the lines and braking trace and everything was almost the same.”

While initially eyeing a seat in the Repco Supercars Championship, the former Super2 Series front-runner made the strategic pivot to sports car racing with the goal of climbing the Ford Racing ladder.

“My career has kind of taken a step to the side from the Supercars scene,” he said. “Obviously I still really enjoy Supercars, given I’d like to be in it, but there’s just no opportunity there at the minute.

“As a young 21-year-old driver, I don’t think you’ve got any years to waste. I think the older you get, the more your value drops.

“There’s an opportunity here with Ford to do some GT4 racing this year, which I took, and hopefully it takes me to something bigger next year or in the next few years.”

McLeod has been on a world tour over the recent six weeks, having been at the Suzuka 1000km, Motul Petit Le Mans and Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour embedded with Ford’s factory drivers, sitting in de-briefs and gaining knowledge of the Mustang GT3 EVO to help prepare him for a possible move into GT3 competition next year.

He also spent time at Ford Racing’s technical center in Concord, N.C. for simulator sessions before traveling to Portimao for last weekend’s GT4 European Series season finale, and subsequent GT3 test that also saw fellow development drivers Sam Paley, Robert Noaker, Erik Evans, Marco Signoretti and Jenson Altzman all get seat time in a HRT-prepared Mustang GT3 EVO.

Additionally, newly crowned Mustang Challenge North America champion Cole Loftsgard turned his first laps in the Mustang GT4, as a prize for winning the IMSA-sanctioned single-make series.

With laps in the Mustang GT3 EVO now under his belt, McLeod said he hopes he can take the next step up.

“It goes to show that the development program works,” he said. “Chris [Ward, Ford Racing global customer racing manager] was very kind to invite me into the program and I wouldn’t have joined it if I knew it’d just be a name and just a little bit of support behind it.

“I want a future with Ford and I wanted to have a bit of ensurement that there was a bit more too it, and at the end of the day, they’ve kept their world and it’s been awesome to finally go through the ranks, from the Mustang Challenge car to the GT4 and to the GT3.

“There’s a ladder there and it works. You’ve just got to get yourself into a Ford and just impress and go through the ranks.”

With Miedecke Motorsport and Team MPC recently joining forces for the Suzuka effort, and additional Mustang GT3 EVOs understood to be headed Down Under, McLeod hopes he could potentially be part of the lineup for February’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

“I hope so,” he said. “It’s definitely my next big race to do. I’ve driven Bathurst plenty of times. I’ve done Bathurst in a MARC car, which is Mustang-bodied, not quite as much aero as a GT3 car.

“I did the 12 Hour two years in that, which is cool. If I can do the 12 Hour again in another Mustang but a proper GT3 one that would be super cool.”

Source: Sports Car 365