Patrón Highcroft Racing sealed its second consecutive American Le Mans Series victory and win number four, in round eight - the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport in Canada. Outstanding performances from Scott Sharp and David Brabham, stellar team work and strategy, and a bit of luck for good measure saw the Acura go from sixth overall and fourth in class to win LMP2 and finish third overall, repeating the success of Road America two weeks ago.
The consistently outstanding performance of the Patrón Highcroft Racing team on Michelin tires sees Brabham and Sharp close to within 10 points of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas in the LMP2 championship fight. With just three rounds remaining and round nine at Detroit next weekend, Patrón Highcroft Racing is ready to take the title fight to the very end of the season.
Elated after taking victory at Mosport, Patrón Highcroft Racing Team Owner, Duncan Dayton enthused: "This has been an absolutely fantastic and quite unbelievable race. A brilliant job by Jordy (Lead Engineer, Jordan Eber) to manufacture fuel out of thin air certainly helped our cause.
That guy ought to go in to the exploration business, because he can find oil and gas like nobody I know! Everybody did a fantastic job and we made some great pit calls. The car was quick all weekend. Scott did a great job to get us into the fight and David wrapped up a fantastic finish. It was tough luck for Gil [de Ferran] to run out of fuel at the end; that was really heartbreaking for them, but their first win will come for sure. But for us it’s win number four, baby!"
Sharp, a previous multiple victor at Mosport in SSCA and Trans-Am competition, delivered a solid opening stint to line the team up for success after showing impressive pace throughout the weekend. The high speed Mosport corners suiting Sharp’s style, the 40 year-old stayed in the thick of the top six throughout his session to hand over the Acura ARX-01b to Brabham from sixth overall and fourth in class at the 45-minute marker under full course caution.
"We did a fantastic job here today. The last two races have been about fuel and the team, led by Duncan [Dayton], and Rob Hill did another great job of calling the right shot at the end," said Sharp. "Our car was fast all weekend but traffic was a major factor in the race. I wasn’t quite so lucky in some places so that hurt us a little but David did his usual charge to get the Patrón Highcroft Acura to victory lane and now we’re in the thick of the championship fight."
In what was another nail-biting American Le Mans Series race finish, Brabham battled back from sixth overall and fourth in LMP2 with 20-minutes remaining, taking Romain Dumas and Adrian Fernandez to lie fourth and second in class with four minutes to go. But with LMP2 class leader Gil de Ferran running out of fuel on the last lap, the Patrón Highcroft Acura took the class win and third overall.
"This is another fantastic team victory today and what a phenomenal race," said Brabham. "The wheel-to-wheel action was as good as it gets. The Patrón Highcroft Acura was hooked up, the Michelin tires were performing really well and I just tried to go as fast as I could, carrying speed through the corners while conserving fuel.
Scott did a great job at the beginning of the race while the team once again delivered an excellent pit strategy. I feel bad for Gil’s team as they were so close to winning, but we’ll happily take this fourth win."
American Le Mans Series Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport Round 8 - Provisional Race Results
1 – LMP1 - Marco Werner/Lucas Luhr - Audi AG R10/TDI - 127 laps
2 – LMP1 - Rinaldo Capello/Emanuele Pirro - Audi AG R10/TDI - 127 laps
3 – LMP2 - Scott Sharp/David Brabham - Acura ARX-01B - 127 laps
4 – LMP2 - Luis Diaz/Adrian Fernandez - Acura ARX-01B - 127 laps
5 – LMP2 - Patrick Long/Sascha Maassen - Porsche RS Spyder - 127laps
6 – LMP2 - James Rossiter/Franck Montagny - Acura ARX-01B - 127laps
7 – LMP2 - Simon Pagenaud/Gil de Ferran - ARX-01B - 126laps
8 – LMP2 - Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas - Porsche RS Spyder - 126 laps
9 – LMP2 - Chris Dyson/Guy Smith - Porsche RS Spyder - 125 laps
10 – LMP2 - Marino Franchitti/ Butch Leitzinger - Porsche RS Spyder - 125 laps
For full race results visit www.americanlemans.com
For further information on the Patrón Highcroft Racing team visit www.patronhighcroftracing.com
- Emma Spearing- photo ALMS
