Matthew Brabham feels ready to make the step up to a full-time drive in the Verizon IndyCar Series following successful tests with Andretti Autosport at Iowa and Sonoma in recent weeks.
Brabham was one of a handful of rookie drivers to test at Sonoma on Thursday, sharing the running with regular driver Marco Andretti as part of the Mazda Road to Indy programme for young drivers.
Speaking after the test day, the 21-year-old expressed his enjoyment and belief that he is now ready to make the step up to a full-time drive in IndyCar.
“[I] had an awesome day,” Brabham said. “Driving an IndyCar around Sonoma was a lot more physically demanding than when I last drove at Iowa.
“You really had to muscle the car a lot more, but it was an incredible experience and so much more fun than anything else that I have driven.
“As a team we worked our way through the program which I was scheduled to do, so they were happy. And it was good to be able to ask Marco and Justin [Wilson] questions during the day, that was a big help.
“Speed-wise, it was difficult to really judge as the regular drivers were on different compound tires to the MRTI guys and there was no official timing.
“But it appears unofficially that Piquet and myself were the fastest rookie drivers, and we did almost identical times.
“I want to race one so bad now, and after today I am ready if given the opportunity.”
Brabham has spent 2015 sampling a number of different racing cars after finishing fourth in Indy Lights last year, but remains a firm part of the Andretti Autosport family.
The American-Australian has raced for the marque in Indy Lights and FIA Formula E this year, and will hope that this latest test has put his name in the mix for a possible full-time drive in 2016.
Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.
Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.
On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.
One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.
After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.
The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.
Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.
Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports
“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”
Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.
“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”
As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.
But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.
A block pass by Haiden Deegan led to a series of events that eventually led to Jordon Smith failing to make the Main. – Feld Motor Sports
“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.
“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”
Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.
“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.
“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”
The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.
