Brabham Books Front Row Start for Mid-Ohio

Sportscar ace David Brabham will line up on the front row of the grid for round six of the American Le Mans Series, the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, on Saturday 19 July. The Australian, who lives in Henley-on-Thames, led the 20-minute qualifying session before finishing second just two tenths adrift of Gil de Ferran.

Fresh from his pole position and second win of the season last weekend in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock, the team’s home track, the 42 year-old topped the Mid-Ohio leader board with a time of 1:08.193 for several laps. In a thrilling three-way battle for pole, with Timo Bernhard in the Penske Racing Porsche lurking in third, de Ferran posted a time of 1:07.969 towards the end of the session that could not be challenged.

"After a fantastic result last weekend at Lime Rock, we’re pleased to be back in the frame and on the front row," said Brabham. "The car feels good. The Patron Highcroft Racing team have done a fantastic job of developing the car and it just keeps getting better.

Our qualifying run was the best of the week so far, so we are confident in the knowledge that we have a good race-day car underneath us. We are looking strong for the race but anything can happen and we’ll just be aiming to keep it clean and get to the finish."

With Brabham’s team mate Scott Sharp starting tomorrow’s round six in the Acura ARX-01b, the dynamic duo will be aiming to clinch their third win of the season and close the 24-point gap to LMP2 championship leaders Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. Brabham and Sharp lie second on 78 points, with Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti, Sascha Maassen and Patrick Long all tied for third on 52.

1 – LMP2 – Gil de Ferran/Simon Pagenaud – De Ferran Motorsports - 1:07.969

2 – LMP2 – David Brabham/Scott Sharp – Patron Highcroft Racing -
                  1:08.193 +0.224

3 – LMP2 – Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas – Penske Racing - 1:08.238 +0.269

4 – LMP2 – Franck Montagny/Marco Andretti – Andretti Green Racing -
                  1:08.320 +0.351

5 – LMP1 – Lucas Luhr/Marco Werner – Audi Sport North America - 
                  1:08.357 + 0.388

6 – LMP2 – Adrian Fernandez/Luis Diaz – Lowe’s Fernandez Racing -
                  1:08.507 + 0.538

7 – LMP1 – Dindo Capello/Emanuele Pirro – Audi Sport North America -
                  1:08.960 +0.991

8 – LMP2 – Patrick Long/Sascha Maassen – Penske Racing - 1:09.614 +1.645

9 – LMP2 – Chris Dyson/Guy Smith – Dyson Racing - 1:09.912 +1.943

10 – LMP2 – Marino Franchitti/Butch Leitzinger – Dyson Racing -
                    1:10.029 +2.060

www.davidbrabham.com  

- Emma Spearing-  photo ALMS