Matthew Brabham's column: A weekend of misery

Toronto didn't turn out to be a good result for us as a team, and everyone wanted to bounce back strong at Mid-Ohio. We were still mathematically in the fight for the championship, so we were very determined to roll out in Mid-Ohio and win both races. At the previous test we had there, we didn't have much pace, but we had good direction and a clear path to fix our issues moving forward. I was confident that we would overcome the issues leading into the race weekend.

Practice started off really well; I was surprised at our pace. We finished the first session quickest, and it seemed like a complete turnaround compared to the last time we were there. The car was in the ballpark and I was feeling confident early on. In the second practice session, we carried over our same pace and we stayed in the top two positions for the majority of the session which was encouraging leading into qualifying.

We came out of the blocks strong for qualifying, and on the first round of new tires that everyone did, we ended up as the top spot on the time sheets. However, as the session went on and as we did more rounds of new tires, we slowly fell down the order. In the end, we qualified fifth for the first race and third for the second race... I was disappointed with our end result, but I put it behind me and started focusing on the race.

Before the start of Race 1 there was a downpour which wet the track quite a bit. It was able to dry again before we went out, so all the teams were in a mad scramble to change back over to Cooper Tire slicks. The track was still damp in some areas and tricky to manage in the first few laps; it definitely shook things up a little. I had a battle with my teammate Zach Veach for position in the first half of the race, and at one point I made a mistake and let him through, only to get the position back from him a few laps later in the same corner after he made a similar mistake. I promptly waved as I went past thanking him for the courteous mistake; the team saw the wave on the onboard camera and had a good laugh about it later on. In the later stages of the race I was able to catch third place, but unfortunately before I could make a move to get on the podium, my gearbox jammed; I then fell back a position and finished fifth.

Race 2 didn't last long for the United Fiber & Data/MAZDASPEED crew. I got a great start from third and moved up to second place heading down into the first corner off the start. At the time I didn't really know what was happening – I thought maybe the wind was incredibly strong or that someone was bump-drafting me, because my rear end was moving around. But when I braked, I knew instantly. My tire got slashed and deflated after being clipped by the car behind me and the rear end of the car collapsed and hit the ground, sliding out into Turn 1. I lost control and crashed into the car that actually sliced my tire (which is actually a little funny now, but definitely not then), and it ended our day before we could finish one lap.

Both races certainly didn't go to plan, but there's nothing to do but focus ahead to finishing out the season on a high note, hopefully with some wins. This week I've once again had the great opportunity to do some testing for our Formula E team over in the UK; it's been really fun to be able to drive these cars again and I am just really grateful to the team. Now that I'm heading back home to the states I'll be focusing all my efforts on Milwaukee IndyFest next week. I won there last year in Pro Mazda and I'd love to do it again this year... The Andretti Sports Marketing team puts on a great weekend for all of us, and I can't wait to see how this year shakes out.
-Matty