Brabs wins race 1 in St Pete

Matthew Brabham produced another of his trademark drives through the field, when he won the Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St Petersburg round three of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.

After dominating the Friday practice sessions, the Andretti Autosport MAZDASPEED #83
suffered a gear linkage problem in Qualifying and had to line up in 8th position on the tricky street circuit.
Matthew made a good start and then proceeded to slice his way through the field to grab the lead at the halfway point of the 21 lap race. Setting a series of fastest laps Brabs crossed the line nearly 10 seconds ahead of Diego Ferreira and Andretti Autosport teammate Shelby Blackstock. The win also gives Matthew the point lead in the championship.

"First I have to thank Andretti Autosport for giving me a fantastic car and Mazda for giving me the opportunity to be up here racing with these guys this year". An elated Matthew said". It was a fantastic race for me. It was a bit hairy going into the first corner. I had to dodge a few cars as they were all piling up on each other, but I was able to get through. I knew I had a fast car but it is tough to tell where you are at but after the first couple of laps, I was moving up through the field and knew it was good. I'm speechless. It was just such a great race for me."

Round 4 in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Mazda will be held Sunday at 3:00pm local time. Live timing can be viewed at www.promazdachampionship.com