Partners with Fraser McConnell at ZEROID Motorsport for historic hydrogen-based race

Professional off-road racer Gray Leadbetter joined the world’s best drivers in Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia last weekend for the inaugural FIA Extreme H World Cup, the world’s first hydrogen-powered FIA World Cup. Racing alongside Fraser McConnell at ZEROID Motorsport, Leadbetter and the team took a heat win on Saturday and were in contention to take a podium in the winner-take-all final.

The action started in Thursday time trials, where the field was very closely matched in solo runs. Leadbetter and McConnell persevered through sensor issues in the first run before posting a top-five run in the second, as all eight teams were split by under 10 seconds. On Friday, Leadbetter would face off with Extreme veterans Molly Taylor and Klara Andersson in her head-to-head races.

But when Saturday’s multi-car races came around, the team hit its stride. Leadbetter and McConnell won their first round heat by nearly four seconds, flexing the skills they honed in rallycross by defeating Andreas Bakkerud and Catie Munnings of Hansen Motorsport. A third place finish in the second heat allowed them to total 28 points across the three days of qualifying events, good for fourth on the grid of the eight-car World Cup final.

Unfortunately, glory in the feature race wasn’t meant to be. A rollover on the second lap while running in a podium position meant that Leadbetter wouldn’t have the chance to close out the race.

“Saudi Arabia was a blast, I couldn’t be more thankful for the QEV/ZEROID team for allowing me to be a part of it,” said Leadbetter. “Getting to drive the first hydrogen race car was just a fun and unique experience. And working with Fraser McConnell after having raced against each other six years ago was amazing. We showed we had the speed to be up front after winning our Q1 on Saturday, we just unfortunately had some issues to take us out in the Final.”

For more information on Gray, follow her on social media @grayleadbetter or visit GrayLeadbetter.com for her full schedule.

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