Matthew Brabham continued his impressive form with a hard fought pair of second place finishes at rounds 3 and 4 of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda held at the Allied Products St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
Despite not having seen the St. Petersburg street circuit before, Matthew was quickly up to speed and missed the pole in qualifying by just 0.002 seconds to his team-mate Spencer Pigot. The Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team-mates were again the pace setters as they have been since the season started.
The concern of all the competitors was surviving the carnage that often happens in St. Petersburg notorious first turn, Pigot and Brabham both made good starts and made it through turn one unscathed. With Brabham showing impressive speed and Pigot doggedly defending his lead the pair eased away from the rest of the field. With passing almost impossible Brabs had to settle for second at the chequered flag, although fastest lap and a new track record meant that the rookie third generation driver would start on pole for race two.
"It was very, very intense out there and it was kind of like a rubber band effect between me and Spencer [Pigot]. We both had a really good start and managed to pull a gap together and pull away and dice between ourselves for most of the race. The track was getting worse and worse as it started to heat up and grease up, and it was very interesting for awhile there. When the yellow flag came out, it gave me a chance to get back at Spencer going into Turn One, but he defended well and I couldn't really quite make it around the outside. Other than that, I am really pleased with how it all went. I learned the track quickly and was up to speed pretty quickly with Spencer, so it has all worked out very well."
Race 2 held high hopes for Matthew to turn the tables on his more experienced team-mate, but again Pigot used that experience to get the lead coming out of the first corner. The race quickly turned out to be a copy of race 1 with Matthew constantly looking for a way passed, only to be thwarted by an impossible track to pass on and some good defensive driving by Spencer Pigot. Matthew did have one chance to pass and briefly edged in front in a daring dive down the inside, unfortunately the front wing was badly damaged in the attempt leaving Brabham to hold off the pursuing pack over the last couple of laps. Fastest lap in the race again helped Matthew in the Championship points, and Pigot leaves St. Petersburg with a slender two point lead over Brabham. The two team-mates have pulled well clear of the rest of the field in the championship race, and their battle looks set to continue for the whole season.
"It was a little disappointing at times for me throughout the weekend. I definitely wanted to be on that top step. That's the place where everyone wants to be and, unfortunately, I wasn't there. Looking at it as a general weekend in the championship race, I am ecstatic about how it went and very pleased with how it turned out in the end. It could have been a lot worse in that last race without part of my front wing, and I am really happy that I managed to keep up in the championship and I am only two points behind which is a good position to be in at this stage."
Matthew's next race is the only oval track event on the 2012 calendar at the iconic Lucas Oil Raceway "Night before the 500" race on May 26th
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