The Australian driver will be replacing Johannes van Overbeek, who has sustained an injury to his ribs, sharing the Honda HPD ARX-03b n°31 (LM P2) with Ed Brown and Jon Fogarty. Brabham was with Honda for some time and raced with the team in his last two Le Mans 24 Hours, in 2010 and 2012. However, he is also familiar with ESM, having competed in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship with them at Daytona and Sebring in 2014 and in the WEC at the 6 hours of Shanghai.

David Brabham: “It was quite a surprise to get a call this close to the race. Scott [Sharp, driver and team owner, Ed.] explained the situation, and I feel for Johannes after having my own rib injury a couple of months ago racing in Australia. I know how much pain he is in. I’m honoured to have been called up to help out ESM here at Silverstone, which isn’t that far from where I live. I’ll do the best I can this weekend. I’m back in racing form since my accident and have been training frequently.”

David Brabham will be the eighth former Le Mans winner on the starting grid at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, along with Alex Wurz, Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, Loïc Duval, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. He had three consecutive wins in Le Mans with two class victories for Aston Martin in 2007 and 2008 before the overall win in 2009 with Peugeot, alongside Marc Gené and Alex Wurz. ESM is entering two Honda HPDs. The second one is driven by Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier-Hansson.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO      Translation by Emma Paulay
(based on ESM press releases)

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SATURDAY 16 & SUNDAY 17 JUNE 2012, RACE. David Brabham at the wheel of the Honda HPD ARX-03a (LM P1) when he last raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours.