Continental Tire IMSA Spotlight: Stevan McAleer

IMSA Spotlight: Stevan McAleer
Driver: No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5
Follow: @StevanMcAleer

As a resident of upstate New York, is the race at Watkins Glen a special one for you each year?

“I’ve always enjoyed Watkins Glen. When I flew over to the States back in 2006, Watkins Glen was one of the tracks on the Skip Barber National schedule and I’ve grown to like it. It’s definitely one of my favorites. With it being a local track, I guess you can classify it as a home race even though my accent is from Scotland.”

Where does your win at Watkins Glen in 2015 rank in your career?

“The highlight in 2015 was probably the win there because that got us clear in the points for the championship so hopefully we can do something similar coming up. We’ve really enjoyed that track, and actually in ’13 when I was teammates with Marc Miller, that was actually the first year I drove in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and we won then as well.

“I feel the Mazda is a strong car there, and looking at the weekend weather it does actually look like it’s going to rain and I have some excitement for that as well. I think we’ll be strong.”

Is it safe to say you’re hoping for some rain?

“Being from Scotland, I want it to rain every weekend but that doesn’t happen here in the States. Watkins Glen is going to be as good of a chance as ever. I personally wouldn’t mind it to be wet. If it’s wet, we probably have a better shot.”

How would you assess your year so far as a team owner of McCumbee McAleer Racing in Mazda MX-5 Cup?

“It’s been a great year so far. We have three really fast drivers on the team. There have been six races so far this season and we’ve won five of them and were third in the sixth, so we’re the team to beat this year. That’s special for me for a couple of reasons.

“One, I competed in that championship in 2012 and I won it that year as a driver, so it’s exciting because now there’s the opportunity to win it as an owner. I think that’s super exciting for me.

“The other thing, we’ve always had strong cars and now we have two or three strong drivers in the mix that are working together. They’re helping each other. We’re looking incredibly strong heading into the halfway part of the season.”

Do you have any race day superstitions?

“If you go back ten years ago, I used to listen to Fleetwood Mac before I would get in the car. Now, I’m so busy with the MX-5 Cup team or my karting team that I’m either doing emails or working on the business before getting in the race car so there’s not been Fleetwood Mac in a couple of years now.”