As usual, David Brabham has enjoyed a varied season, both in terms of where and what he drove and in terms of results, but, with the last race in his diary now done and dusted, he takes a look back over the biggest part, his American Le Mans Series campaign.
Q:
David, you raced at Laguna Seca for the last race, how did it go for you?
David Brabham:
It started off well as we found a Pirelli tyre that gave us good grip and consistency. We had been struggling mid-season to get the best from the tyres but, at Laguna, we managed to get a compound to work.
Q:
Your speed in practice didn't look bad, were you hoping for pole position?
DB:
Not really, as the
Ferrari and Porsches were just that little bit faster round there. However, I locked up the rears into the Corkscrew and lost 0.4 of a second, so I think I could have been on the front row. We had trouble with the brakes all through practice and the race, so we never got the best out of the car.
Q:
You managed to get up to third just before pit-stops, and it looked like a top three result was on the cards?
DB:
Yes it did, the tyres were very consistent and I caught Jorg Bergmeister and passed him before my stop.
Q:
It didn't last much further than that though, did it?
DB:
No. My team-mate, Scott Maxwell, was running fourth and doing a great job. However, as he came down the hill for the second last corner, an accident was happening in front of him. He tried to get out of the way, but the car that had spun came right across him and he had nowhere to go. He got the car back to the pits and the guys really tried hard to fix it, but it was too badly damaged.
Q:
Too bad. How have you enjoyed your season this year?
DB:
Well, it started off really well with winning at Sebring and the car showed great speed and reliability. We managed to get second at Mid-Ohio after a great race, but it kind of went downhill for a while as we struggled to get the best out of the car and tyres. We did find an aero problem on our car at a test at Atlanta, and we picked up over half a second, which got Scott and I back on the pace a bit. We finished third at Petit Le Mans and a podium was on for Laguna, so it was much better at the end. Both Multimatic and Pirelli worked really hard to get the cars back on the pace.
Q:
The new Ferrari looks very quick out there and, judging by the speed of the car at the end of the stints, they have the fastest car...
