Matthew Brabham has vaulted himself into the lead of the Cooper Tires USF20000 Championship Powered by Mazda by virtue of a pair of wins at the fast and challenging Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake.
Brabham will take a 18 point lead into tomorrow morning’s race, when the USF2000 Series completes its first-ever triple-header race meeting in advance of the headlining American Le Mans Series Road Race Showcase.
Qualifying saw Brabham experience gear shift problems which dropped him from first to third in the closing stages.
The race fell under caution soon after the start following a variety of incidents around the opening lap. After a lengthy clean-up, Brabham past Spencer Pigot immediately after the restart and never looked back, romping clear of his rivals to secure his second win of the season.
Pigot was given a penalty for blocking, which he served as the checkered flag was shown, but his misery was compounded when he exceeded the speed limit in pit lane, thus earning another 30-second penalty which dropped him from fifth to 16th in the final results.
Round 9 saw the grid decided according to each competitor’s fastest race lap from the earlier outing, with Brabham on pole ahead of Scott Anderson, Pigot and Matthew Di Leo.
Once again, Brabham displayed a clear rear wing to his pursuers as he took off into the lead and was never seriously challenged during the 12-lap race.
Brabham says that he is pleased with his weekend efforts thus far.
“I am very happy with how things have gone this weekend,” Brabham said.
“It was good to get those race wins under my belt. I’ve been struggling a little bit to get to that next step on the podium, but the car was really, really good through the race.
“Scott [Anderson] was really quick mid-race and I was starting to get a bit worried but in the end it turned out really well and I am looking forward to the next race.”
