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Road America: Patron Highcroft ALMS Race Recap
Patrón Highcroft Racing bounced back into victory lane with a stunning American Le Mans Series win at Road America today.
The Danbury, CT-based squad repeated its LMP2 class win from 2008 for Acura in recording its second 2009 LMP1 victory aboard the Acura ARX-02a.
The result also pushed out the team's championship lead over rivals de Ferran Motorsports to 13 points.
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After qualifying second on Saturday with a margin of more than 0.8 of a second, the #9 Patrón machine with Scott Sharp at the wheel trailed the #66 Acura of Simon Pagenaud off the start.
Sharp had to fight off the advances of the turbo-Lola of Jon Field, but held onto second place when the first yellow flag period fell on lap 8.
With the de Ferran car electing to pit, Patrón Highcroft Racing took over the lead with Sharp staying aboard the #9 machine.
On the restart, with 2 hours and 15 minutes remaining, Sharp initially opened up a lead of up to 15 seconds before traffic eroded his lead.
With one hour and 42 minutes to go, Sharp entered the pit lane just as the second yellow of the day took place. David Brabham was able to climb aboard with a full tank and new Michelin tires.
The de Ferran car also pitted under yellow and Brabham resumed in the race lead - a lead that he would never relinquish.
With Gil de Ferran now setting chase, Brabham maintained his advantage until both pitted at the next yellow flag period with 47 minutes to go.
The Patrón Highcroft Racing squad repeated its left-side Michelin tires only strategy from Lime Rock - ensuring Brabham maintained his lead.
The green flag waved with 28 minutes to go. Despite a further yellow flag period, Brabham was able to maintain the lead over a final four-lap run to take victory.
With a controversial pit penalty at Long Beach and a puncture at Lime Rock snatching victory from the Patrón Highcroft squad, today's win was due reward for the team which had finished second in the past four American Le Mans Series events.
Today's win also pushed the team's fundraising efforts with partner Malaria No More to $43,306.98 - the Miles to End Malaria program provides African families with mosquito nets to combat Malaria.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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