Sharp, Brabham Take Acura Sports Car Challenge @ St. Petersburg

[Editor]

Scott Sharp and David Brabham scored the first overall win for the new Acura ARX-02a.


David Brabham and Scott Sharp scored the overall victory for Acura at the aptly named Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg on Saturday as the auto manufacturer swept both prototype classes in the second round of the 2009 American Le Mans Series.

Brabham and his Acura ARX-02a finished 32.150 seconds ahead of Adrian Fernandez as Acura took the top two overall positions. Fernandez was the LMP2 winner for the second straight race with Luis Diaz in Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Acura ARX-01b.

Saturday’s victory was the first for the new ARX-02a entry for LMP1.

“I can’t say enough about the whole job HPD (Honda Performance Development) and Wirth Research have done with this car,” Sharp said. “I stepped into the P2 car last year and it was pretty much sorted. Everything on this car is new, and we’ve come a long way in three or four months. We all feel that this car has tremendous promise and will only get stronger and faster and better.”

Sharp ran second to de Ferran Motorsports’ Acura and Gil de Ferran for much of his stint. After an early spin, Sharp took massive chunks per lap out of de Ferran’s lead in the closing minutes of the opening stint. He pitted under caution - the only one of the day that came out when Joel Feinberg crashed his Dodge Viper Competition Coupe at the 53-minute mark - and handed off to Brabham, who passed Fernandez eight minutes after the restart.

The Patrón Highcroft Acura went on without a hitch while the de Ferran Acura struggled with electrical and fuel pump issues that sidelined Simon Pagenaud with about 15 minutes remaining. With a comfortable margin over Fernandez, Brabham still had to cope with a dangerous first turn every lap, one that was especially greasy.

“Scott had a very strong car and did a very good job of pressuring de Ferran which I think caused him to pit early I think,” Brabham said. “If you pit early like that it puts you in danger if a yellow comes out, and that worked in our favor. I had to push but not push too hard; I went into Turn 1 sliding a few times. It may have looked easy but it really was not.”

Acura became the first auto manufacturer to win both prototype classes in the same race. Brabham and Sharp won their second overall event together, the first coming last July at Lime Rock Park. They have five class victories together with four in LMP2 together last year.

Fernandez and Diaz were prototype winners in the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge, which goes to the fastest and most energy efficient entry who has the least environmental impact. Hand and Milner were GT winners in their BMW. Both manufacturers won their first MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge trophies.

The Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach is the next round of the 2009 American Le Mans Series. The race is set for 4:15 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 18 from the famed Long Beach street circuit in southern California. The race will be televised from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 19 on ABC. Qualifying is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT on Friday, April 17. American Le Mans Radio and Live Timing and Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.

The race also will mark the next round for the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. For tickets, visit americanlemans.com or gplb.com.