Saturday At Road America
Brabham Makes Stellar Drive With AGR, Lowe’s Acura Teams Have Heartbreak Ending
David Brabham and Scott Sharp recorded their third LMP2 class victory Saturday in the No. 9 Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-01b prototype sports car with another stellar drive by Brabham in the Generac 500 at Road America, the seventh round of the 11-race American Le Mans Series.
Brabham, the only ALMS driver to win in all four classes during his career, used outstanding team strategy to position himself with a chance to capture another division victory. Led by team owner Duncan Dayton and team manager Rob Hill’s fuel planning, Brabham made a late-race “splash and go” pit stop during a caution period that prepared the personable Australian driver for a last dash to the checkered flag in the four-hour race set for Sunday telecast on SPEED-TV at 2 p.m. EDT.
It was Patrón Highcroft Racing’s third victory in the team’s last five starts.
The win moved Brabham and Sharp closer to the lead in the LMP2 point standings. Timo Bernhard and Romian Dumas, the second-place finishers Saturday, are the point leaders in LMP2. Two other Acura teams were in position to battle Brabham and Sharp with 30 minutes remaining Saturday but tough luck took Franck Montagny and Adrian Fernandez out of the race. Montagny, teaming with James Rossiter in the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Andretti Green Acura ARX-01b sports car, drove a sensational race to pass Brabham for the class lead with 15 minutes to go. However, the French driver’s mount was struck by a GT car in “Canada Corner” and forced into the sand trap outside the turn.
Montagny won his first ALMS pole on Friday and drove to the front of the field on several occasions in an attempt to give Andretti Green Racing its first win since Sebring last year. It was Rossiter’s first race in the XM Acura. Fernandez, a 12-time starter at Road America, ran second overall to Brabham when the rear suspension of his No. 15 Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura failed. The failure forced the popular Mexican star’s machine into the gravel trap in Turn Three and ended a spectacular run. Fernandez’ partner, Luis Diaz, was a strong contender in the early segments of the race
Former Indy 500 champion Gil de Ferran looked to be a contender too. But a couple of on-track incidents kept the Brazilian in the pits on several occasions and eight laps behind the leaders. De Ferran’s No. 66 Pana- sonic ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b did come back to finish the event with young French driver Simon Pagenaud matching the leaders’ lap times throughout the second half of the race.
