As the race entered the thrilling final 30 minutes, Brabham was tailing the four-car battle for second four tenths adrift of Long. The Penske Porsche took fourth on lap 85 leaving Fernandez as Brabham's target and he duly closed in, taking third in class and fifth overall on lap 89.
The native Australian pulled out all the stops with 25 minutes to go to slice into Long's three second advantage and set his, and the Acura's, fastest lap of the race on lap 91. The quickest man on the track with twenty minutes remaining, Brabham's relentless pace ensured he took fourth and second in class on lap 100.
With 10 minutes left, LMP2 class leader Dumas was over three seconds up the track but Brabham continued to set lap after flying lap to close at a rate of over half a second per lap. In the nail-biting closing stages, and with last week's Lime Rock victory fresh in mind, Brabham was within five tenths of the Penske Porsche when traffic intervened.
The 2008 GT1 Le Mans winner was within two tenths of attacking a second consecutive LMP2 class victory, with two laps remaining. Despite his monumental efforts in the dramatic closing stages, Brabham took the chequered flag second in class and fourth overall.
"It was a thriller to the end," said Brabham. "We seem to be making a habit of doing that. In the end, we just ran out of time. Although the #7 (Penske) Porsche was very fast, I think we were a little bit quicker.
"It's very difficult around here, you lose too much of the aerodynamics being behind the car in front. And you really do need a break in the traffic: sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn't. I was right behind him (the #7 Penske Porsche) right at the end but it wasn't meant to be.
"When I passed Patrick Long (in the #6 Penske Porsche) - I knew I was quicker. I saw a slow car coming up in front of us and I just backed off on the main straight to get a good run. Luckily, the slower car went toward the middle, Long went left and I went right. It was a question of who was going to brake latest. I managed to get past him and then it was just a matter of catching the leader.
