Media Release: Brabham Signs-Off Debut Season With Double Scholarship Second
Brands Hatch, Kent – Sunday 13 October 2013; Sam Brabham signed-off his impressive debut Dunlop MSA Formula Ford season with a further brace of second place Scholarship podiums at Brands Hatch this weekend, cementing the runner-up class spoils and fourth in the outright title fight.
The 19 year-old, however, suffered a hugely disappointing end to the year when he was hit out of fifth place without completing a single lap of the historic Grand Prix circuit, that names its Brabham Straight after his triple Formula 1 World Champion Grandfather, Sir Jack.
On his first outing at the Kent track, Brabham topped the timesheets in Friday testing but found he was unable to carry that form through to qualifying on Saturday. Bedding in brakes for the opening part and pitting for set-up tweaks, Brabham rejoined to greasy conditions, due to dropped oil, missed the window of opportunity and had to settle for ninth, eighth and seventh.
Determined to make amends, the recently enrolled University of Northampton student made a strong start for round 28, picking off Andy Richardson, Camren Kaminsky, Max Marshall and Simon Rudd by lap seven.
The remaining seven laps were spent glued to Jayde Kruger’s rear wing. Although clearly the quicker car, a wheel onto the grass just before Dingle Dell lost Brabham momentum in the closing stages and he settled for fifth overall, second in class.
Repeating that same result for round 29, he gained a good start from the fourth row to pass Marshall but then got held up in the battle for fifth. Although clear of both JTR teammate Kaminsky and Rudd on lap five, the battle allowed the front-runners to pull away and Brabham faced a seven second deficit to James Abbott. Although continually improving his best lap times despite losing 0.5 seconds a lap to a slipping clutch, the gap was too great for Brabham to close.
With a new clutch installed for the final race of the season, the third generation driver made an awesome start in extremely wet conditions to take two places and run fifth exiting Paddock Hill Bend. But Brabham’s chances of finishing his first Formula Ford campaign with another outright podium were destroyed when rear contact from Marshall sent him into the gravel at Clark Curve.
Despite that huge disappointment ending his 12-round Scholarship podium run, Brabham can be proud of what he’s achieved this year. Six outright podiums, including three second places, secured fourth in the championship table, while 21 podiums and six class victories sees Sam take the Scholarship runner-up honours, despite missing the opening rounds.
Brabham commented: “Obviously it’s disappointing not to finish the last race of the season, but the conditions were pretty tricky and the visibility was really poor. Jayde’s [Kruger] rain light wasn’t working and I was completely unsighted going into Clark Curve. I broke early and got fired off, but I can’t complain, as it’s my only on-track DNF all season.
“Finishing fourth overall and as Scholarship runner up, I couldn’t have asked for more this year. It’s been an amazing experience and I aim to come back next year to fight for the championship title.
“I’d like to say a massive thank you to all of my sponsors, my family and friends, for their tremendous support, and of course everyone at JTR. The team has been faultless all year. We only had two mechanical DNFs and whenever we had an issue they were fantastic in fixing it. Bring on 2014!”
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Brabham Media Office:
Emma Spearing: +44(0)7736 341828 | media@brabham.co.uk
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