Brabham Record-Breaking ALMS Qualifier At Long Beach
by Joe Jennings
4/17/2009

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Long Beach, Calif. - David Brabham whipped his Acura ARX-02ax around the 1.97-mile, 11-turn Long Beach street course at a record speed of 98.912 miles per hour to take the pole position for Saturday's Tequila Patro?n American LeMans Series race.

"Long Beach is a pretty special place what with all the great derives that have raced here," Brabham said after his record run. "I put a quick lap down early and we had a sizable gap on Gil (de Ferran), but he got close at the end. To see how close it got was pretty amazing and to beat him is a quite an accomplishment."

Brabham and Sharp co-drove to victory at St. Petersburg two weeks ago and Brabham said winning further inspired his team and boosted their confidence going into this event. "To think you can win and then to get a win under you belt is an inspiration to you and your team," Brabham commented.

De Ferran was second fastest at 98.813 mph in an identical Acura ARX-02a. The hard-charging driver spun his Acura toward the end of qualifying, and timed runs ended at that point in time.

Adrian Fernandez was third fastest overall and topped the P2 field to take qualifying honors. His one-lap speed in an Acura ARX-01B was 96.874 mph. "It has been a great year for us," Fernandez said. "We are focused on finishing races this season, so we limited our qualification laps to six. Near the end of qualifying, the Dyson Racing Mazda's got close to us, and with that team's experience, they are going to be quite competitive." Chris Dyson and Butch Leitzinger timed fourth and fifth overall and second and third, respectively, in the P2 category.

Olivier Beretta gave Chevrolet Corvette another GT1 pole position in the manufacturer's last race before its transition to the GT2 class. His speed was 90.887 mph. "I raced against this team back in 1999 and I knew it was the team of the future. I am just glad to be with them," he said.

Jaime Melo and his Ferrari 430 Berlinetta GT gained the GT2 pole position with a speed of 88.437 mph. He took the qualifying honors for the second consecutive race and for the 14th time in his career.

Twenty-one cars qualified for Saturday's race.





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