INDYCAR: Brabham pleased after solid debut

Matt Brabham celebrated what he described as an "almost perfect" IndyCar debut on the IMS road course on Saturday.

Brabham qualified 14th in the PIRTEK Team Murray Chevy, and ran trouble-free all afternoon to finish 16th.

"I think it was almost the perfect introduction for me to the Verizon IndyCar Series," said the American/Australian dual national.

"I wasn't sure how things like the pit strategies were going to play out, having never done a racing pitstop before, but the Team Murray guys were on fire with every single stop.

"The start was crazy; I nearly s*** myself going into Turn 1 - there was so much stuff that was flying around, the buffeting on my head was unbelievable. Due to the crash [between Sebastien Bourdais and Tony Kanaan], we were able to get through clean and then settle into a rhythm for the race. The whole experience was definitely different, I had never done anything like the restarts, push to pass or pit strategies before, but it all went pretty smoothly."

The third-generation racer now switches his focus to preparations for the Indianapolis 500, which is the second and final race currently scheduled for the Team Murray squad.