Returning to victory lane at Road America with Patrón Highcroft Racing was a great feeling and exactly what we all needed. It was a big race for us to win as we had found ourselves in a position to win each of the last four rounds but things didn't go our way and we finished second on each occasion. Road America was a great exhibition of how good this team really is, because we just kept working at getting stronger and we got the strategy right.

We were comfortable in the lead, despite pressure from the sister de Ferran Acura, and the Patrón Highcroft crew played the pit stops perfectly with a great call on tyres. Both the Acuras were evenly matched but I knew that if we got a bad run through the traffic I was probably going to get nailed, but everything went smoothly.

The traffic went our way and I never got held up enough to give Gil the chance to attack. On the last corner of the last lap I caught up with a GT3 car but I had just enough space to get down the inside and keep Gil at bay to win the race.

Scott did a great job and it was a fantastic team effort, especially as we got spanked pretty badly in qualifying when the car had way too much understeer. We made some adjustments for the race and found a good set-up.

A turning point came when we decided not to pit under the yellow but the de Ferran car did. We were wondering at the time why they did that and they now say it was a mistake. There had been so many red flags in practice we thought there might be several safety car periods in the race. We knew that if we stayed out at that point, we would get another yellow that would allow us to pit and then make one last stop.

When the de Ferran Acura pitted later than us we knew they would have a quicker fuel in their final stop. Due to the circuit and the way the tyres were working we felt we only needed to change the left side which proved to be a decisive move. We just managed to get out in front of the de Ferran car and held the lead all the way through to the end of the race.

After I pit, I came back out during a yellow and that brought the Acuras back on to the same sort of strategy, which meant we were leading when de Ferran pitted to match our strategy.

As a result, I had Gil sitting right behind me for the last two stints. If the role had been reversed and Gil was in front, it would have been the same – it would have been difficult for me to get past him. The question mark over de Ferran's first stop helped us, the yellows fell in our favour and the pit strategy was faultless. Everything just went our way. The entire team really needed the race win and a confidence boost, and we got it.

We had to dig deep for Road America. The team's confidence wasn't as high as it has been and sometimes, in that situation, you can make bad choices. But we all took a good look at ourselves, picked up our game and delivered on the day. A fantastic job was done by everyone.

Our strategy is solid moving forward to the next round at Mosport where our aim will be to repeat our Road America success. There will be some minor changes to the car, because the down-force levels are different and a lot higher, the corners are a lot faster and it's the fastest average lap we do in the American Le Mans Series. The set-up won't be too far away from what we've got now, as the car has felt the best it has all year and we don't want to move too far away from that.

We just need to keep doing what we are doing and take things one race at a time. We are 13 points ahead in the title fight but we have to forget that and keep going for those race wins. If we can do that and ride this wave, it will put us in a promising position for the championship.


David Brabham