by Chris Hayes
David Brabham and Scott Sharp charged to the second step of the rostrum in Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge at St. Petersburg, the Highcroft pairing finishing second in class and third overall in their Acura ARX-01b. Aussie veteran Brabham was ecstatic with the result declaring it as 'just awesome'.
The Patron Highcroft Racing duo ran at the sharp end of the field all through the race and eventually got the jump on the Porsche RS Spyder pairings of Maassen/Long and Dyson/Smith thanks to a quick turnaround at the pit-stops.
"This result is just awesome," exclaimed Brabham who continues his strong run of form at the temporary street circuit having given Highcroft its first podium last year.
"We ran near the front of the pack all week, and so, to maintain that great position during the race was just fantastic."
The 1 hour 55 minute race was witness to two re-starts and Brabham admitted he had to do things the hard way after struggling with grip as the race resumed for the second time.
"Toward the end of my run, I had some trouble with restarts and we had a lot of pickup on the tyres, so it was pretty challenging to drive there for awhile. But we hung on and got our best result to date."
But that did not stop the Australian wrestling his way to Highcroft's best result in its short history.
The 1996 Super GT champion was full of praise for his team-mate Sharp who had a tough time in the opening stint unable to get the best out of the Acura's braking capabilities.
"Scott did a top-notch job at the beginning of the race," Brabham said congratulating his American team-mate.
"The car was way too loose at the start, so he was great at keeping it off the wall and gave it to me in good shape."
It wasn't long before Sharp began to revel in the hot temperatures scything his way up to the back of the Dyson Porsches before handing over to Brabham.
"Overall, it was a good ride in the Acura ARX-01b," the 40-year-old reflected.
"The car settled in quite nicely. The track was hot and slick, so we were fighting for grip early on. The car was also a bit loose at first, so it was hard to develop braking force.
