Matt Brabham’s preparation for his first Indianapolis 500 continued yesterday with 97 trouble free laps of the Speedway as the PIRTEK Team Murray outfit concentrated on race car pace ahead of this weekend’s Qualifying.
Brabham has clocked more miles than any other driver during the course of the last two days.
The PIRTEK Team Murray #61 Chevrolet squad was working on setups with the other entries under technical partner - KV Racing - all three cars feeling as though they were heading in a strong direction.
Tomorrow, the game changes with Fast Friday - which is the last opportunity to dial in settings before Qualifying on Saturday - where drivers get four laps against the clock. From there, the top 9 will advance to the fast nine on Armed Forces Pole Day on Sunday.
Once he finished another epic stint in the warm Indiana sunshine, 22-year-old rookie Brabham took part in the opening of the Indy Film Fest in front of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pagoda, where he joined three time winner, Bobby Unser, J. Douglas Boles, the President of IMS and legends of Indiana to introduce the Paul Newman movie, Winning.
Further special guests of the Indy Film Fest were PIRTEK Team Murray’s CK Crew, who came together for the first time tonight. The team, which is made up of military veterans and first responders, were given a standing ovation by the Film Fest crowd.
The CK Crew - drawn together in partnership with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation - are training in Indianapolis over the next 10 days and will be PIRTEK Team Murray’s entry into the Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge on Miller Lite Carb Day.
Indy 500 practice will run for a further six hours tomorrow beginning at 12pm local time.
Coverage can be livestreamed through http://racecontrol.indycar.com or through the Verizon IndyCar Series Facebook page www.facebook.com/indycar.
QUOTEBOARD - MATT BRABHAM - #61 PIRTEK TEAM MURRAY CHEVROLET:
“We’re still working away, trying to get some more out of the car - it was good to put in 97 trouble free laps around the Speedway today. We were plodding away today to get more experience on how the race car should be.
“We still have some more work to do on the race car. We have to compare some data with our team-mates and see what they are doing and what we might be able to learn from that.
“Throughout today’s program, we were experimenting with the race car setup and finding as much as we could there.
“I think the PIRTEK Team Murray guys did a great job, a few things setup wise didn’t work, but I did my fastest lap of the week, hitting 224mph.
“Tomorrow, we’ll be working on the qualifying side of things through Fast Friday. Obviously, the weekend is pretty important in terms of securing a good grid position for the race.
“There’s a bit of work to do tomorrow, it is pretty important for us, I am still very positive with the direction we’re heading and I think it will be a good day, which will then position us well for the weekend.”
