Matthew Brabham swept both races of the Allied Building Products Grand Prix of Toronto for his sixth and seventh wins of the season in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader. Driving the No. 83 MAZDASPEED/Team Andretti Autosport entry, he leads the point standings by 85 points over Juncos Racing’s Diego Ferreira with eight races remaining.

Race 1

Brabham, 19, from Boca Raton, Fla., opened up a gap of four seconds over his nearest challenger, Juan Piedrahita, by Lap 5, then was content to cruise for the majority of the 25-lap, 30-minute race on the challenging 1.755-mile street circuit. Last year’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda champion and grandson of three-time Formula One World Champion Sir Jack Brabham posted the fastest lap of the race at 1:09.636, and eventually took the checkered flag a comfortable 12.445 seconds clear of the field.

"It was a long race for me out there in front," Brabham said. "I can’t thank the guys at Andretti enough. They have been predicting the track and have been basically spot on the whole weekend so hopefully we will do the same tomorrow. I am just over the moon at the moment.”

Piedrahita, from Bogota, Colombia, held second place for the opening half of the race but was struggling with a tire that was gradually losing air and soon came under pressure from Venezuelan Diego Ferreira, who had made a fine start to jump immediately from fifth to third. Ferreira (Juncos Racing) made the pass for second on Lap 13 to secure his fifth podium finish of the season.

FULL RESULTS

Piedrahita (JDC MotorSports) slipped to fourth behind charging Brazilian Nicolas Costa but failed to reach the finish when his tire finally let go with just two laps remaining. Costa, who had started third but fell back to seventh at the start, fought through impressively to claim third on his Pro Mazda debut with Team Pelfrey.

Teammate Spencer Pigot was running a close fourth when he clipped the wall in Turn Four on Lap 2, forcing him into a lengthy pit stop for repairs. Shelby Blackstock (Andretti Autosport) lost control and spun in Turn 5 while running in fourth place on Lap 6, while another incident on the first lap also cost Juncos Racing’s Scott Anderson a shot at the podium. The Colorado driver lost several laps while his crew repaired the damage, after which he returned and served notice of his pace by posting the second fastest lap of the race.

California-based Welshman Lloyd Read (JDC MotorSports) secured his best finish of the season, fourth, after a lengthy battle with teenaged Californian Kyle Kaiser (World Speed Motorsports), who made a spectacular start to jump from 10th to fourth but soon slipped back into the pack.

Contingency awards included the Quarter Master Hard Charger Award which went to Read for his gain of five positions, the Staubli Award to Costa and the PFC Award to the winning team of Andretti Autosport.

Race 2

New engine, no problem for Matthew Brabham. The runaway leader in this year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires was forced to run a fresh SpeedSource Mazda rotary engine in his No. 83 MAZDASPEED/Team Andretti Autosport entry after his engine was collected for a routine verification Saturday evening. It made no difference as the 19-year-old from Boca Raton, Fla., once again won convincingly this morning in the second leg of the Allied Building Products Grand Prix of Toronto.

Brabham stayed with his team until almost 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night while they worked to install the fresh motor, then was allowed a solitary “hardship lap” at 7:55 a.m. on Sunday to ensure that all was well. Brabham made a fine getaway from the standing start – a first for Pro Mazda this season – and soon began stretching his margin over the remainder of the field.

“I just wanted to get a good start and be safe and not jump it or have any problems," Brabham said. "I really like standing starts. It’s exciting for everyone – the fans, the drivers and the teams. I have to thank Mazda for giving me the opportunity to do this year, Allied Building Products for supporting the race and all the Toronto fans. This race has a great atmosphere.”

Scott Anderson, from Fort Collins, Colo., initially gave chase for Juncos Racing before making a mistake in Turn 1 on Lap 2 and slipping to the back of the field. Colombian Juan Piedrahita (JDC MotorSports) stepped into the breach but was unable to keep pace with Brabham, who stretched his advantage by more than a second per lap.

FULL RESULTS

Diego Ferreira, in the second Juncos Racing entry, finally found a way past Piedrahita on Lap 5 but was unable to make any impression on the leader. The Venezuelan’s hopes were raised by a full-course caution on Lap 16 after Spencer Pigot’s miserable weekend with Team Pelfrey ended with contact against the wall at Turn Three, but once again Brabham was in a class by himself at the restart, posting a series of fastest race laps before taking the checkered flag five seconds to the good. Brabham’s seventh successive win catapults him to a 65-point margin over Ferreira in the battle to earn a scholarship to graduate into Firestone Indy Lights via the Mazda Road to Indy for 2014. It also leaves him just one shy of the single-season record of eight established by last year’s champion Jack Hawksworth.

Ferreira finished as runner-up for the second straight day, while Brazilian Nicolas Costa once again took third for Team Pelfrey after passing Piedrahita on Lap Nine, only to be penalized 25 seconds at the end of the race for having overtaken a lapped car under yellow flag (no-passing) conditions. Costa’s penalty dropped him to sixth place and elevated Piedrahita to the final podium position.

Local driver Zack Meyer (JDC MotorSports) made a bold maneuver to pass Shelby Blackstock (Andretti Autosport) on Lap Two and held off a strong challenge from Kyle Kaiser (World Speed Motorsports) in the final stages with both drivers claiming career-best top-five finishes.

Walt Bowlin, from Tarpon Springs, Fla., claimed expert honors for the second straight day, finishing a lap down in eighth for M1 Racing.

Contingency awards included the Quarter Master Hard Charger Award which went to Kaiser for advancing five positions, the Staubli Award to Meyer and the PFC Award to the winning team of Andretti Autosport.