Double podium result for ESM at Baltimore

BALTIMORE, MD. – It took 14 seconds for the Grand Prix of Baltimore race to come to a screeching halt. As fast as Saturday’s American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón race started, multiple cars made contact at the green flag. As a result, the field was frozen on the main straight for a 75-minute red flag period.

Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek

Photo by: Martin W. Spetz

The Extreme Speed Motorsports race cars were in Turn 3 when they were made aware of the incident behind them. At the start of the race, Ed Brown, co-driver of the No. 02 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b, was in the second position on the right side of the grid.

He charged his way to the front of the P2 field and was listed as the race leader. Brown was unscathed in the incident. Anthony Lazzaro, aboard the No. 01 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b, had a different view from the left side of the grid.

At the drop of the green, Lazzaro was ready to charge the field alongside the sister car. Unfortunately, Lazzaro’s lane was slow to move on the start and he made contact with the P2 car in front of him while trying to accelerate.

The spinning car stopped facing the wrong way on the race track and was subsequently hit by many of the approaching cars. ALMS officials charged Lazzaro with a stop-and-go penalty.

Following the red-flag period, ALMS officials restarted the race in the original qualifying order and the clock was reset to zero. As a result, the two-hour race became an hour and 14-minute event.

The race restarted with Brown listed as the P2 class leader and Lazzaro was second.

Lazzaro continued in the No. 01 Tequila Patrón HPD and charged his way to the front of the P2 field and overall race lead. Lazzaro led the race for nearly 10 minutes and was called to the pits to serve the stop and go penalty. He was able to keep the No. 01 on the lead lap before turning it over to co-driver Scott Sharp.

Sharp climbed into the No. 01 machine in the second position and was attempting to work his way to the lead. During his stint, Sharp was listed as the fastest driver in the P2 class and was chasing down the class leader. Despite running faster lap times than the P2 race leader, traffic hindered Sharp’s advancement to the P2 lead. In the end, Sharp crossed the finish line in second place.

Moments after the second start of the Grand Prix of Baltimore, Brown was involved in an incident in the narrow Turn 4 with a PC class competitor. Brown found himself in the tires and hit from behind. Brown limped the No. 02 back to the pits where the crew diagnosed the issue as a broken suspension.

Brown returned to the field following the 25-minute repair. Despite several race cars being involved in this incident as well, Brown was charged with a stop and go penalty.

Since the race time was changed and shortened several times, Brown was tasked with driving the No. 02 machine for the entire race. After serving his stop and go penalty, Brown returned to the field and had another bout of bad luck and hit the tires in the chicane.

He radioed the crew reporting issues with the race car in the closing moments of the race. Upon inspection the No. 02 machine suffered electrical issues as a result of the numerous contacts during the race.

Brown was ranked as the third place P2 finisher. This was the second podium finish for the No. 02 Tequila Patrón HPD this season. Brown and co-driver Johannes van Overbeek finished third at the Long Beach Grand Prix in April.

The race will be televised at noon ET on Sunday, Sept. 1 on ABC.

Next up for the Extreme Speed Motorsports is the International Sports Car Weekend at at Circuit of the Americas on Sept. 18-22.

Extreme Speed Motorsports