Sam Brabham has told The Checkered Flag of his delight at recording a maiden Pro Am class win in only his fifth ever race in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, following a superb drive in the opening race of the weekend around the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit yesterday (31 August).
After not racing for four years, Brabham made a return to competition last season with a one-off Porsche Carrera Cup GB outing on the Silverstone National circuit with Redline Racing. Despite an impressive display, the 24 year old was left to settle for another spell out of a drive.
Brabham, who moved to Melbourne in Australia earlier this year, has been given the chance to return to the grid courtesy of new sponsor Connect It. Linking up with experienced outfit Brookspeed, the third-generation driver has signed up for the second half of the season.
Brabham’s return to the series came two weeks ago at the fastest circuit in the UK, Thruxton. While he had previously enjoyed success at the track with two Formula Ford wins in 2014, that was his last visit to the circuit so it proved to be a steep learning curve over the meeting.
“It feels good to be back, and crucially doing more than one weekend,” he explained. “That’s been important for me, to start progressing myself and really learning the car. I hadn’t driven since September heading into Thruxton and had not been on that track in five years, so it was a tricky weekend.
“The whole meeting was therefore a massive learning curve. I felt I was in the right ball park in practice and qualifying, but then my first race back I was on slick tyres on a wet track! It was the first time I’d raced in those kind of conditions so it was quite an experience. I enjoyed it.”
With that experience under his belt, Brabham came to the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’ in positive spirits and it has shown throughout the meeting so far. After lapping in the Pro Am top four in free practice, he qualified his Team Connect It Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car 10th overall and third in class.
Brabham moved up to second on the opening lap of race one and then hunted down leader Karl Leonard. A slick move into Village got him the lead six laps on and he held it to the finish for a five second win in an impressive seventh overall; a special result at his family’s home circuit.
“It was great that I could go away from Thruxton, sit back and digest everything I’d learnt over the weekend, and then apply it this weekend,” he reflected. “It’s been a new circuit for me again, not many people get to race here, so it took a bit of adjustment to get up to speed.
“The hard work has paid off though. To get a class win in only my fifth ever race in the series is really pleasing and I’m delighted I could get this result for both the team, Brookspeed, and my sponsor Connect It. Both have shown great faith in me and hopefully this is the first of a few trophies.”
