Matt Brabham has completed a sound debut by overcoming several hurdles to finish his maiden Indianapolis 500.
The Pirtek Team Murray rookie had lost ground early through a combination of a broken wheel gun during a pit stop and a Chevrolet that was pushing off the turns before the understeer was dialled out.
The 22-year-old finished 22nd after running a race high of 14th in the 200-lap affair.
He was comfortably running inside the top 20 before the team called him in for a splash and dash pit stop inside the final 10 laps when key runners were also forced to take on ethanol in order to make the chequered flag.
“It is incredible to think that we finished this race. Out there was a little surreal to be honest,” Brabham said.
“It was an amazing experience to be in the 100th Indy 500 race and now I can say that I have finished the Indianapolis 500 and I am the third generation of Brabham to do that.
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“It is special to think that there have only been three families (Andretti and Vukovich) during the 100 year history of this race to do that.
“During some of the stints it developed a vibration. In the middle of the race there, I was able to make up eight places which was a really great feeling.”
Brabham’s future remains undecided following the special two-race program put together by Speedcafe.com proprietor Brett Murray after he had earlier finished 16th in his IndyCar Series debut on the road course at Indianapolis two weeks ago.
“I’m happy that we got through and that we were able to put on a good show.
“Let’s hope we can have an opportunity to do more again.”
Murray said he hoped that Brabham’s safe hands across the two races will catch the eye of a team owner who is in a position to give the dual American-Australian citizen a full-time seat.
“The car’s in one piece, pitstops were great, the Pirtek Team Murray boys did a great job. We had to roll the dice on the fuel at the end, which we did,” Murray said.
“It’s an amazing feeling and Matt did a top job.
“Hopefully plenty of people took notice of what Matt achieved and that someone will give him a shot.”
On the restart from the fourth caution period with 78 laps remaining, Brabham occupied 20th as fellow rookie and eventual winner Alex Rossi led proceedings.
With just over 50 laps to go, Brabham had moved up to 14th briefly before he was called in for the late stop.
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