Australia’s David Brabham has scored his second GT1 World Championship podium of the season to finish third in Spain.
Racing their Nissan GTR at the Circuito de Navarra in Northern Spain, Brabham and team mate Jamie Campbell-Walter made strong progress throughout the event to equal their best result of the season.
Starting on the third row of the grid, Brabham and Campbell-Walters finished the qualifying race in fourth place, improving to third in the main championship race behind the Lamborghinis of Dominik Schwager and Nicky Pastorelli and Markus Winkelhock and Marc Basseng
Campbell-Walters started the race before handing the Sumo Power Nissan over to Brabham.
“Jamie did a great job to put us into a good position in the first stint,” said Brabham.
“I just tried to keep a good pace and tried not to destroy the tyres.
“I was settling for third place unless something happened in front. Both the Lamborghinis went well and congratulations to them.”
Sumo Power GT was running well enough to challenge for second place, but lost a spot during a pit stop.
“We came into the pit stop second and went out in third place,” said Campbell-Walters.
“It was unfortunate to lose a place in the pits.
“Our crew have been doing a fantastic job all year and been getting better and better. For instance in the qualifying race we came in in tenth place and went out sixth, a gain of four places.
“We did the best we could for third place.”
With four rounds of the GT1 World championship remaining, Brabham and Campbell-Walters sit eighth in the series, with their Sumo Power GT team placed fifth in the teams championship.
Brabham returns to Australian in September for the Phillip Island 500 followed by the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000 where he will again pair with Alex Davison in the IRWIN Racing Ford.
In further IRWIN Racing news, Marc Lieb who will partner Alex Davison at the Gold Coast 600, came fourth in the Le Mans Series race In Italy.
Having won the recent Nürburgring 24 hour race, Lieb teamed up with Austria’s Richard Lietz to finish fourth in the third round of the Le Mans Series held in Italy.
Driving the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Lietz qualified the Porsche team in sixth place behind two BMW’s and three Ferraris.
In hot conditions, Lieb and Lietz had their best Le Mans Series race result of the season, to finish just off the podium in the six hour race.
“We had a super race without any technical problems and a perfectly set-up car,” said Lieb.
“We pulled out all stops, but this was the best we could do right now.”
The GT2 race was won by Ferrari’s Jaime Melo and Toni Vilander, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni (Ferrari) and Jörg Müller and Augusto Farfus (BMW) rounding out the podium.
Lieb and Lietz are currently placed fifth in the Le Mans Series championship after the third event of the five race series.
The fourth round of the 2011 Le Mans Series is being held at Silverstone, England, on September 11.
