Media Release: Brabham Continues Cracking Formula Ford Podium Run At Knockhill

Knockhill, Dunfermline (Fife) – Sunday 25 August 2013; Sam Brabham continued his impressive Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship podium run on Scottish soil this weekend, clocking up his third outright series podium amid another hat-trick of visits to the Scholarship rostrum at Knockhill.

The recently turned 19 year-old headed into his debut at the Fife circuit with a solid qualifying performance to place fifth, fifth and fourth fastest across the respective classifications, despite only learning the track in Friday practice.

With drama on the opening lap of round 19 triggering a lengthy safety car period while debris was cleared from the track, the race got underway on lap eight when Brabham did well to avoid a spinning third-placed Jayde Kruger to move up from fifth to fourth.

In the 10 remaining minutes, the JTR driver pegged back the 1.4-second gap to Harrison Scott to mount an awesome last lap move into the Seat Curve for third overall, securing another place on the outright podium and Scholarship second in the process.

A less eventful round 20 followed on Sunday morning, with Brabham taking a clear run to finish fourth overall and third in class, despite fending off Kruger while battling with a broken rear roll bar.

Starting from the second row for round 21, Brabham got a little bogged down off the line but swiftly recovered to give chase to Scott, triggering another thrilling battle. Although Brabham was clearly the quicker, Scott defended well which allowed Juan Rosso to join the now three-way battle for fourth.

By lap 17, Brabham was threatening to pass Scott until a wheel onto the kerb at the Arnold Clark Chicane pitched him into a spin, but an excellent recovery ensured he rejoined in seventh. The third generation driver wasted no time in hunting down and passing teammate Camren Kaminsky for sixth on lap 21. He then slashed Scott’s 1.5-second advantage to cross the line side-by-side in a nail-biting finish, just one hundredth of a second separating the pair, to secure sixth overall and third in class.

Brabham’s debut performance at the Scottish circuit seems all the more impressive when you consider that the last time he was at Knockhill he suffered 17% burns, while attending the 1995 BTCC event in which his Dad David was racing for BMW Team Motorsport.

Thanks to a healthy diet and fantastic care from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill (Glasgow), Brabham thankfully made a full recovery; rather than needing the skin grafts feared he escaped with just a scar to his right arm.

Brabham opened his Knockhill race weekend by returning to Yorkhill on Thursday, and continued to support the hospital by displaying the Yorkhill Children’s Charity logo on his JTR racecar while urging fans to donate at www.yorkhill.org

From a broken arm to end of life care, from simple play activities to innovative medical equipment and ground breaking paediatric research, Yorkhill Children’s Charity’s driving passion is to fund any initiative, large or small, that helps to save or improve the life of a child and by association positively affect the lives of their family.

Kirsten Sinclair, Fundraising Manager at Yorkhill Children's Charity, said: "We'd like to say a big heartfelt thanks to Sam for visiting Yorkhill and the many children who are currently patients at the hospital. Visits like these distract children from impending and often difficult treatments and operations so they really help lift their spirits. Sam was treated at Yorkhill when he was younger so it was really nice to see him back.”

Brabham commented: “After a challenging weekend last time out at Snetterton, where we were forced to record two DNFs as well as an outright podium, I feel we finally got the results we can be proud of. We’ve had great pace all weekend and I carried that into consistent form across the three races. I had a bit of a spin in race three but recovered well and the charge to the chequered flag with Harrison was great fun.

“My trip to Yorkhill Hospital really inspired me to do well here at Knockhill and I want to thank them for taking me on a tour of the hospital and for everything they did for me when I was younger.’

With three outright series and 13 class podiums now to his credit, Brabham moves up to fifth in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford title fight with three rounds remaining.

-Ends-

Brabham Media Office:

Emma Spearing: +44(0)7736 341828 | media@brabham.co.uk

Tags: