Two-time American Le Mans Series champion David Brabham is set to again hit the track in Highcroft Racing colors for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in next week.<\/p>\n
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The popular Australian ex-Formula 1 driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner is the first of three drivers confirmed for Highcroft as the team continues its 10-day countdown to the opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron.<\/p>\n
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Brabham has played a key role in the development of the new HPD ARX-01e LMP1 machine, completing miles aboard the Wirth Research simulator in the UK in preparation for the Sebring race which doubles as the opening round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.<\/p>\n
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Brabham joined Highcroft Racing in 2007 with the launch of the factory Acura LMP2 team and has been the mainstay of the squad \u2013 leading the Duncan Dayton-owned organization to 11 class victories and championship wins in 2009 and 2010.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt will be great to get out there and start running and from what I have seen so far, the HPD ARX-01e has enormous potential,\u201d Brabham said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI have driven the car on the simulator and been very impressed, but until we get it out there on the track we really won\u2019t know for sure.<\/p>\n
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\u201cObviously we would have preferred to have had more testing miles under our belt prior to the Sebring race but if there is one thing I know about the guys at Highcroft Racing is that they respond to pressure in the best possible way and do an outstanding job.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The ARX-01e will hit the track at Sebring later this week before completing more testing miles on Monday and Tuesday (March 14\/15).\u00a0 Official practice for Sebring begins on Thursday, March 17.<\/p>\n
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Brabham is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to return to the track to ascertain how the new-for-2011 rules package balances out the competition between the dominant diesel-powered prototypes and the 3.4 liter petrol-powered Honda Performance Development package.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAudi and Peugeot have had their cars out there earlier than anybody so they will be better prepared than anyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOur goal is to fast track the development of the 01e and Sebring is the perfect environment for that.\u00a0 Sebring is a great place to test a car in what really is a violent environment \u2013 it is certainly the toughest race in the world on equipment.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt has been a real pleasure to be involved with these development programs from the first LMP2 car through to the ARX-02a which we won the championship with in 2009.\u00a0 And now to have a newly designed LMP1 version ready to compete at Sebring is very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to continuing that process with the new car.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Brabham\u2019s teammates aboard the Highcroft machine will be unveiled later this week.<\/p>\n
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Team boss Duncan Dayton is looking forward to having Brabham back aboard the Highcroft car with the aim of continuing their great history of success.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDavid has been the linchpin of the Highcroft program since we first kicked things off with Acura and HPD in 2007,\u201d Dayton said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe has been in the car for every one of our 11 victories and helped us to back-to-back championship victories. We\u2019re looking forward to adding a few more chapters to the David Brabham\/Highcroft Racing story.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The new HPD ARX-01e is a further development of last year\u2019s championship-winning LMP2 car.\u00a0 The revised package has been heavily redesigned over the off-season to bring the car up to LMP1 specifications.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDavid has been heavily involved in all the development work throughout the history of the ARX package all the way through to two championship victories,\u201d Dayton said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe has done the majority of the simulator work with Wirth Research in the UK. His wealth of experience in the development and progression of this car has been invaluable and we are delighted to have him back again.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat work will help us ascertain a great starting point on the set-up before we have even finished bolting it together.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOur entire driver line-up will be doing miles this week on the simulator so we should be in a great position to hit the ground running when the car hits the track at Sebring.\u201d<\/p>\n
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