Matthew Brabham’s six-race winning streak in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires might have come to end at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport), but the young Australian kept his podium streak going.
The race was won by Spencer Pigot in a three way battle with Shelby Blackstock and Brabham; in fact the final margin at the finish was 0.2-secs as they took the chequered flag.
Pigot, who qualified second, fought his way past polesitter Shelby Blackstock and managed to edge out a slight margin over the two battling Andretti Autosport entries of Blackstock and Brabham.
Four laps into the race a heavy accident to Juan Piedrahita brought a lengthy caution period. Ten laps behind the safety car meant a dash to the finish with Brabham slipping into second place soon after the re-start. However, Brabham over-stepped the limit and ran allowing Blackstock back ahead.
The final two laps saw all three jockeying for position, frequently running side-by-side, but it was Pigot who held on for the victory by just 0.118 seconds ahead of Blackstock with Brabham just 0.081 further back.
“It’s a shame to lose the winning streak but you can’t have every win so we will take it as it comes, said the third-generation racer.
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” Shelby made a little bit of a mistake coming onto the main straight and I managed to get up on the inside but two corners later in Turn Three I ran a little bit wide and dropped a wheel off where [Juan] Piedrahita crashed and Shelby slipped past me.
“It was a little bit of a mistake but I am still glad to be up here on the podium.”
Brabham currently holds a 72-point advantage in the standings at 272 over Diego Ferreira. With his win today, Pigot has narrowed the gap to a mere eight points in arrears of Blackstock in third.
Race 2 at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park circuit will take place tomorrow with Pigot and Brabham to start from sixth.
