ESM Patron Adds Three To Driver Roster
David Brabham will co-drive in the No. 1 Tequila Patron-sponsored prototype with Sharp and Ryan Dalziel for three of the four NAEC events. Brabham is slated to compete for the team at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans.
This will mark Brabham’s second season as a co-pilot with ESM. In March 2013, Brabham co-drove at Sebring where he assisted the No. 01 team in a fifth-place class finish. Then in October, Brabham earned the P2 class pole position for the No. 01 team, and earned a second-place class finish.
Simon Pagenaud and Anthony Lazzaro are slated to co-drive with Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 2 HPD prototype. Pagenaud will co-drive at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Lazzaro will co-drive at Daytona and at Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
Pagenaud is fresh off a third-place championship run in the IndyCar Series. The Frenchman has competed in Formula Renault, the American Le Mans Series, V8 Supercars and finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pagenaud won the Champ Car Atlantic Championship title in 2006 – his rookie season. In 2010, the driving duo of Pagenaud and Brabham, behind the wheel of a Tequila Patron-sponsored HPD prototype, won the ALMS championship after accumulating four race wins and four runner-up finishes.
Lazzaro returns to ESM and the No. 2 racing machine with Brown and van Overbeek after competing in the last half of 2013 with Sharp. This will mark Lazzaro’s third season working with ESM in the endurance events. He co-drove with Brown and van Overbeek to a fourth-place finish at the 2013 Sebring race. The 1999 24 Hours of Daytona winner also competed with ESM in 2012 at Sebring and Road Atlanta and helped earn a ninth-place class finish in both races.
“Now that I have finally had the chance to take a breath and look at our driver lineup for next season, I am hugely thrilled," said team owner and driver Scott Sharp. “To be able to add David, Simon and Anthony to our repertoire for 2014 is tremendous. All three are super-fast drivers, smart, and they all are very proficient in the HPD P2 car. I could not be more excited. Where we stand with our four core drivers and then to add this talent to the lineup for the endurance races should show that Patron ESM is serious about dominating in 2014."