The course at Road Atlanta presented a tough challenge for the three Acura teams, with only one team was left running at the end of the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans marathon.
Highcroft Racing fought hard to the very end, bringing the #9 ARX.01a home in eighth overall and sixth in the highly competitive LMP2 class as the event proved to be a gruelling example of endurance racing, and step too far for the other Acura teams run by Lowe's Fernandez Racing and Andretti Green Racing. The rate of attrition was staggering, with rough-and-tumble action accounting for cars from all classes and leaving a large amount of carnage and worn-out parts in its wake.
The Highcroft entry dodged the many spinning cars and flying debris, but succumbed to a 23-minute pit-stop to replace a faulty starter in the middle of the nine-hour plus race. The long delay dashed any hopes of a fifth podium finish for the crew of David Brabham and Stefan Johansson, who were joined by Robbie Kerr for the event. In the first three hours, Johansson led the LMP2 class and ran second overall as a result of some outstanding pit-stops, with Brabham maintaining a top three position before problems struck.
Brabham, who started the race from the fourth position after one of the Audis was dropped to the rear of the field following a driver change, said that the pit work helped to overcome problems with the handling of the car.
"During my first stint, it was a bit tricky on the restarts, going from the set-up we had from qualifying, and I lost a lot of ground there," he revealed, "When the car would start to hook up, we would have a yellow, but we were doing great considering the competition we were up against. We had several great stops, beating the Penske car out of the pits early on,.and the guys should be commended for that because it improved our position considerably in the early hours.
