BRABHAM: YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE MOTOR RACING WILL TAKE YOU
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will be a homecoming of sorts for David Brabham. After three years away Brabham is back with the Panoz family, this time in a Panoz Esperante GTLM fielded by Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz.
Brabham was one of the Panoz brand's most recognizable drivers in the early days of the American Le Mans Series, piloting prototypes for Panoz Motor Sports from 1999-2003. During that time he won seven times for Panoz.
"You never know where motor racing will take you," Brabham said. "I really didn't think I would be coming back to this point. I had a great time with Panoz Motor Sports back in the day, and now we're back with the Esperante."
Brabham signed with Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz in January. The Canadian team took over the competition aspect of the Panoz brand in November, and it certainly was fitting to bring a familiar face on board.
A winner in six of the American Le Mans Series' seven seasons, Brabham will join Scott Maxwell for the full season in one of Multimatic's two Panoz Esperante GTLMs; the pair will add Sebastien Bourdais for Sebring. Brabham turned his first laps in the Panoz Esperante GTLM last week at Road Atlanta with overwhelmingly positive results.
"The car is very different to what I have been driving," said Brabham, who drove in GT1 the past three seasons. "Everything is quite new. One thing that surprised me with the Esperante is the massive torque. When you hit the throttle, you really feel it!"
The American Le Mans Series begins its 2006 season with the 54th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The 12-hour endurance classic is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EST on March 18 at Sebring International Raceway. It will be televised live on SPEED Channel in North America and MotorsTV in Europe. In addition, Greenlight-Television will distribute the race worldwide to more than 510 million households. American Le Mans Radio will have flag-to-flag coverage available at americanlemans.com, along with IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.
