Matthew Brabham's column: Taking the rough with the smooth

We were coming off a tough weekend at Pocono, and Toronto was a weekend I was really looking forward to...getting out there and redeeming myself. I did really well in Toronto last year in Pro Mazda, so I really wanted to get back on track as it's one of my favorites. I actually really love street circuits and that city is so cool. I drove up there from Indy with my parents, so it was a nice bonding experience with them.

We got out there for practice and got up to speed quickly. I was feeling pretty good, especially with practice since we were initially so fast, but then we then slowly fell down the order. In the second practice session, I was quickest for pretty much the entire session until Alex Baron topped the times on the last lap. I got out of the car thinking it was pretty good and knew we only had a few minor changes we needed to make.

The weather was obviously looking quite gloomy for the weekend, and it ended up coming to a head right before we had to qualify. I was pushing really hard, and that was pretty much the entire weekend because this was my time to really step it up and start making my championship push.

I was just trying to do well in qualifying – qualifying is so important at that track because it's really difficult to pass there; basically whoever leads in the first corner, is pretty much going to win the race. I was putting almost everything into my qualifying run, and I thought we had a really strong car. It ended up the same as practice – quickest for the first couple of laps, then toward the end of the new tire run, the two Belardi Auto Racing cars just kept getting quicker and quicker and I ended up third. I was a little disappointed because I was hoping to outdo them in qualifying, but I was still pretty optimistic heading into the race.

Unfortunately, our race was forced to start earlier than planned since the first IndyCar race was postponed to Sunday. Instead of the noon start, we were up for an 8:25 a.m. green flag, and the track was still a bit wet since it was so early and it didn't have time to dry out yet. Pretty much the entire grid had wets on until the team and I decided it was best to go with slick tires just before the start. We decided to take the gamble because the track looked pretty dry, just a bit wet in a few spots. It seemed like after we went to slicks, the rest of the grid did, as well. I was hoping everyone would be on a different strategy than us, but no such luck.

The race got underway, and it was slick right away; the first corner was completely wet, and unfortunately it was more wet on the inside and I started on the inside. I ended up losing a few positions at the start and fell back to fifth. My United Fiber & Data/MAZDASPEED car was really quick at the beginning, and I had a good battle with Zach Veach, swapping positions with him a few times.

I was behind Jack Harvey a good portion of the race, and I felt like I was quicker than him but it was so difficult trying to pass because the track is so narrow; it's a street track – they're always hard to pass on. His car ended up coming on really strong in the end, and my car wasn't as strong but we ended up catching the leaders toward the end, but we ended up running out of time since they had us do a timed race vs. a lap count. I think if the race had been a bit longer, we would have been able to get the Belardi cars.

Overall, I guess I have to be happy. It wasn't a bad weekend; I think we just struggled with some speed in the race. I would have liked to have been quicker and obviously win the race. At this point in the season I'm just trying to win as many races as possible and just finish off really strong.

I'm not really focusing hard on the championship too much because I don't really have anything to lose; I'm not trying to defend a points lead. I'm just going to give it all I've got and put it all on the line, push harder than ever.

I'm really hungry for race wins at the moment – I was a little spoiled last year (13 wins, 15 podiums, 13 fastest laps, 10 pole positions in Pro Mazda) and the year before (USF2000 championship). This year has definitely been a challenge for me, forcing me to work harder than ever – definitely character building. I'm still really enjoying everything, having a lot of fun and the team's working so well together. I think we'll have a great, strong finish to the year; I'm never going to give up.

-Matthew