Brabham makes dream comeback
INDY LIGHTS ST PETERSBURG (USA) 27 FEBRUARY ROUND 1/11
Almost eight years after his last Indy Lights win, and seven since his previous start in the series, Matt Brabham clinched victory at St Petersburg. The Australian-american son of sportscar legend Geoff Brabham has spent the past several years racing Robby Gordon’s Stadium Supertrucks to great effect, and looked predictably slightly rusty while qualifying an open-wheeler, 0.8 seconds and five places behind polesitting Andretti Autosport team-mate Hunter Mcelrea.
But when Sting Ray Robb and Linus Lundqvist tripped over each other at Turn 1 on the opening lap, Brabham grabbed third behind Mcelrea and another Andretti charge, Christian Rasmussen.
Mcelrea was pushing hard and held a three-second lead until lap 11 when he slid into the wall at the final turn. Rasmussen then matched everything Brabham could throw at him, even after two restarts in which Brabham smoked his tyres under braking for Turn 1. The veteran also grazed the Turn 14 wall with his left-rear as he tried to claw to within 2.5s of the leader.
Then, on the penultimate lap, Rasmussen felt his car falter as he started to run out of fuel. He made it around to the back straight and then pulled over. Brabham went past to claim an unexpected victory, 2.5s ahead of Benjamin Pedersen, with Lundqvist third.
In the opening race of the Indy Pro 2000 season, Andretti’s Josh Green led all the way, under constant pressure throughout from Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Brit Enaam Ahmed, who finished only 0.6s in arrears. His compatriot, Louis Foster, drove his Exclusive Autosport entry to third place.
Foster went one better in race two. He was the primary threat to winner Nolan Siegel on his way to finishing in second place, while Ahmed retired early after striking the wall at Turn 8. On his US debut, Irishman Jonathan Browne finished last in race one and crashed out of the sequel.