Brabham Holds Off de Ferran For ALMS Road America Victory

Elkhart Lake, Wis., Aug. 16 – The 2 hour, 45 minute Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase American Le Mans Series race at Road America started promptly at 2:05 p.m., as scheduled, on Sunday.

Two hours and 45 minutes later the top two P1 cars were leading the race. At the checkered, David Brabham in a P1 Acura ARX-02a finished just 0.461 seconds ahead of Gil de Ferran, also in an Acura ARX-02a, for the overall victory. The finish was the closest margin of victory this year in the ALMS.

The victory by Brabham and his teammate Scott Sharp was their second of the season, breaking a four-race victory streak by de Ferran and his teammate Simon Pagenaud.

“Gil’s a great competitor and he was breathing down my neck pretty well. I was a little concerned in the last corner with the slower GT Challenge car,” said Brabham regarding the final lap battle with de Ferran. “It’s pretty simple, you just drive the wheels off it. If you look in your mirrors, you end up where you’ve been looking.”

“We felt a little in a rut watching de Ferran win four in a row. It has been a little rough watching them close our points gap,” said Sharp . “Coming here, we knew we had to dig deep. It was a challenge though to get the car where we wanted it. We made changes last night and this morning. The yellows were in our favor. The team did a great strategy call. David did a great job at the end to hold Gil off – it was very exciting.”

The P2 finish was not as close as Adrian Fernandez in an Acura ARX-01B finished over six seconds ahead of second-place Butch Leitzinger in a Lola B09 86 Mazda. It was the sixth win of the season for Fernandez and his teammate Luis Diaz.

“I think the whole team did a great job today,” said Diaz. “In the start before the first caution we were about to be passed by other cars because the top speed wasn’t good. Fortunately, I realized behind the Mazda, our car was very good – very quick.”

The GT2 excitement was not at the front of the field as Joey Hand brought his BMW E92 M3 to the finish almost a lap ahead of his teammate Dirk Mueller in an identical car from the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team. It was the first win for the Rahal Letterman Team and for Hand but the third win for Hand’s teammate Bill Auberlin.

“Bill and I called this one to ourselves. We’ve been talking it up pretty well here,” explained Hand. “We felt like we had a good chance to win at Mid-Ohio but got hit by a prototype and we were really good at Lime Rock. It all starts when the car gets on the truck. I can’t say enough about the guys at BMW Rahal Letterman Racing. It came as we thought.”

“We have a group of people that are so skilled,” continued Auberlin. “You give them enough time to develop the car, and they’ll make it happen.”

The final lap excitement in GT2 came as third place Patrick Long hit the brakes too late going into Turn 5 and Johnny O’Connell slid underneath Long to take away the third position.

Martin Snow drove to victory in the ALMS Challenge division by almost 10 seconds over Nick Parker, both driving Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. It was the third Challenge win of the season for Snow and his co-driver (and wife) Melanie Snow.

Right at the start of the race, Ian James took his GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford into the pits and behind the wall due to contact with the GT2 Doran Ford GT MK 7 before the start of the race.

Thirty minutes later, James rejoined the race. He and teammate Dominik Farnbacher eventually finished the race 17 laps down.

The P1 car of Stefan Johansson moved from the back of the field to ninth overall after just three laps of the race. The car started at the rear of the field after failing to post a qualifying time.

The first yellow of the race came out 15 minutes into the running as ALMS Challenge driver John Baker, who was running third in class, spun going into Turn 12 collecting Challenge driver Ed Brown, who spun but continued on in the race.

Baker was able to continue in the race but the yellow was prolonged as track officials cleaned the gravel coming out of the car off of the track.
When the pits opened, Baker pitted for 4 tires and repair on the bumper and the rear wing of the car.

A number of other cars pitted during the yellow including the overall leader, Pagenaud, who took four tires and fuel. While Pagenaud was in the pits, Scott Sharp assumed the overall lead.

ALMS Challenge leader Melanie Snow lost the class lead to Wesley Hoagland when she pitted for fuel only.

A minor controversy erupted during the yellow when GT2 drivers Auberlen and Tom Milner were waved around the pace car due to their position on the track. This gave the drivers a distinct advantage over the rest of the GT2 field. It was later explained that the two were waved around as a safety measure because they were in between the two leaders who were driving the much faster P1 cars.

The green came back out at the 31-minute mark with P1 driver Scott Sharp in the overall lead, followed by P2 leader, Marino Franchitti.

Milner was now the leader of the GT2 class followed by teammate Auberlin, both of whom were a lap ahead of the rest of the GT2 field.

At the 38-minute mark, Melanie Snow passed Hoagland for the lead in the Challenge class.

Also, P1 driver Pagenaud moved to second overall after passing P2 drivers Guy Smith and Franchitti.

Three minutes later, Smith passed Franchitti for the P2 class lead. Franchitti dropped back to third in class, sixth overall, with an apparent headlight problem.

Pit stops with driver changes began at approximately the 58-minute mark of the race. In the next few minutes significant driver changes included Butch Leitzinger taking over for Franchitti in their P2 machine and Sharp relinquishing his seat to David Brabham in their P1 Acura.

At the 61-minute mark, the yellow came out right in the middle of the pit stops and driver changes due to GT2 driver Chris Hall getting into the gravel at Turn 6.

While the pits were closed, P2 driver Smith pitted for fuel, four tires and a driver change to Chris Dyson. Also, P2 driver Greg Pickett came in for fuel, four tires and a driver change for Klaus Graf.

The pits were actually opened at the 67-minute mark. The pit stops and driver changes continued. Significant driver changes included de Ferran going in for Pagenaud in P1. Hoagland relinquished his Challenge seat to Bob Faieta. P1 driver Johanssen changed places with Johnny Mowlem and Fernandez went in for Diaz in their P2 car.

In other changes, Martin Snow took over their Challenge car seat from Melanie Snow, Jan Magnussen took over the GT2 seat from O’Connell; Dirk Mueller stepped into their GT2 car for Tom Milner and Auberlin gave his GT2 seat to Joey Hand.

When the green came back out at the 1-hour 20-minute mark, several penalties were assessed. Mueller was charged with a stop and go penalty plus one-minute for too many men over the pit wall. Graf and Dyson were both charged with stop and go penalties for working on the car in closed pits.

At one hour, 26-minutes, Brabham had the overall lead by 2.7 seconds over de Ferran, Fernandez led Leitzinger by over 12 seconds in P2 and Hand led the GT2 class by almost one lap.

The next set of pit stops began at about the one-hour 46-minute mark.

While Challenge series leader Donald Pickering pitted for fuel, tires and a driver change to Nick Parker, Martin Snow took the class lead.

At the end of 51 laps (one-hour, 54-minutes), de Ferran, who was second overall, closed up to 1.375 seconds behind the leader, Brabham.

Chris Dyson slowed on the course, and while the P2 driver was running slowly, he was hit from behind by GT2 driver Farnbacher. The yellow came out even though both cars kept going.

Dyson made it into the pits but the car’s suspension was damaged enough that he could not continue. The initial slowing of the car was attributed to a fuel delivery problem.

When the pits opened at the 2-hour, 3-minute mark, overall leader Brabham pitted for four tires and fuel and retained the overall lead.

At the same time, Challenge leader Martin Snow pitted for fuel only and lost the class lead to Parker. Also, Fernandez pitted for fuel only and retained the class lead.

P1 driver Jon Field pitted for fuel, four tires and a driver change to Clint Field.

At 2-hours, 10-minutes, GT2 leader, Joey Hand, pitted for fuel and four tires and kept the class lead.

The green flag came back out at 2 hours, 16 minutes.

At 2 hours, 24 minutes, overall leader Brabham was just 0.744 seconds ahead of de Ferran.

GT2 driver Joel Feinberg brought out the yellow after taking a trip into the gravel at Turn 12 with just 18 minutes remaining in the race.

During the yellow, Clint Field pitted for a driver change to Jon Field and to change one spark plug.

The green came back out with just seven minutes remaining in the race.

With less than five minutes left in the race, Brabham held a slim 0.669 seconds over de Ferran, while P2 driver Fernandez was third overall, leading P2 rival Leitzinger by 2.637 seconds.

At the checkered Brabham edged de Ferran for the win, while Fernandez was first in P2 and third overall.

Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Sunday’s results
1. (2) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-02a (1, P1), 71.
2. (1) Simon Pagenaud, France; Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Acura ARX-02a (2, P1), 71.
3. (4) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (1, P2), 71.
4. (3) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Lola B09 86 Mazda (2, P2), 71.
5. (6) Greg Pickett, Alamo, CA; Klaus Graf, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 71.
6. (8) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (3, P1), 71.
7. (25) Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Johnny Mowlem, England; Ginetta-Zytek 09HS (4, P1), 70.
8. (7) Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Lola B06/10 AER (5, P1), 70.
9. (9) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; BMW E92 M3 (1, GT2), 69.
10. (10) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Dirk Mueller, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (2, GT2), 68.
11. (12) Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Corvette C6.R (3, GT2), 68.
12. (11) Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (4, GT2), 68.
13. (15) Jaime Melo, Brazil; Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (5, GT2), 68.
14. (13) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (6, GT2), 67.
15. (16) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT MK 7 (7, GT2), 66.
16. (19) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8, GT2), 65.
17. (21) Melanie Snow, Pleasant Grove, UT; Martin Snow, Pleasant Grove, UT; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, C), 63.
18. (18) Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (9, GT2), 63.
19. (24) Donald Pickering, Reno, NV; Nick Parker, Seattle, WA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, C), 62.
20. (23) Wesley Hoagland, Tustin, CA; Bob Faieta, Tujunga, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, C), 62.
21. (20) John Baker, New York, NY; Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (4, C), 61.
22. (22) Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, C), 61.
23. (14) Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10, GT2), 56.
24. (17) Ian James, England; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford (11, GT2), 54.
25. (5) Guy Smith, England; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Lola B09 86 Mazda (4, P2), 50.

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