Matt Brabham clinched overall honors in the Stadium Super Truck event at this weekend’s Adelaide 500 with a victory in the third and final race in his DeVilbiss entry today.
Brabham qualified on the pole on Thursday in his Preston Hire-backed truck and finished third in both the reverse grid races on Friday and Saturday before climbing to the top step today.
The 24 year-old made his way through to mid-field before the compulsory mid-race yellow flag period and battled for the lead on the final lap with series creator Robby Gordon.
Gordon ran wide on the last corner and Brabham slipped underneath him and headed to the last set of main straight jumps in the lead.
As Brabham took the chequered flag, Gavin Harlien crashed off the last jump and spun wildly across the line to finish sixth in a plume of tyre smoke.
Travis Milburn finished second and local driver Toby Price finished third.
The win gave Brabham 37 championship points for the weekend while Milburn and Harlien finished tied for second on 26 points.
The victory was great timing for Brabham who was announced as a Preston Group ambassador for Australia and the US yesterday.
The deal is part of his relationship with Preston Hire Racing which will see him co-drive with Lee Holdsworth in this year’s PIRTEK Endruo Cup for Supercars at the Sandown 500, Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 later this year.
It has been a big month for Brabham who made his Mt Panorama debut at the Bathurst 12-hour race and teamed with veteran Tony Longhurst and fellow youngster Aaron Seton to win Class C in The Boat Works BMW GT4.
Brabham will now be involved in some corporate work with Formula 1 at Preston Hire at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in three weeks time before heading back to the US for the next round of the Stadium Super Trucks Championship at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in California on April 13-15.
WHAT HE HAD TO SAY…..
MATT BRABHAM – DRIVER
“That was an incredible race and I could not be happier to win it and claim the overall victory for the weekend,” said Brabham.
“The Stadium Super Trucks always put on a hell of a show and to get this win in front of a home Australian crowd in the DeVilbiss truck is pretty special.
“It was also great to have so many Preston Hire corporate guests on the ground at an event where I was representing them for the first time.
“It has been a solid start to the championship and we will be doing everything to continue the momentum.”
STADIUM SUPER TRUCKS SCHEDULE
Adelaide (March 1-4)
Long Beach, IndyCar event, California (April 14-15)
Perth, WA (May 4-6)
Detroit, MI (IndyCar event), June 2-3
Texas Motor Speedway, Indycar Event (June 9)
Elkhart Lake, Wi, NASCAR, Xfinity Series, (August 24-25)
Gold Coast (October 19-21)
Lake Elsinore, California (December 1)
SUPERCARS PIRTEK ENDURO CUP
Sandown 500 (September 14-16)
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 (October 4-7)
Gold Coast 600 (October 19-21)
