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Top 10 finish a bonus, says Brabham

Le Mans ace David Brabham says it will be a bonus if either of the Panoz LMP07 cars can make it to the finish of this weekend's 24 hour race after finishing a disappointing 22nd and 25th at the end of the first two qualifying sessions on Wednesday night

The number 12 car, which Brabham shares with Jan Magnussen and Frank Lagorce, lost out on most of the running in both two-hour sessions after a prop shaft problem and the Dave Price Racing-run squad has suffered from various reliability problems in the run up to this weekend's endurance classic.

At the official Le Mans test session in May, running was also limited after a cracked exhaust caused the carbon fibre in the chassis of Brabham's car to catch fire. The Australian cites trying to combine development work, with racing in the American Le Mans Series as the main enemy to solving the team's bugbears.

"It's obviously very hard for the team at the moment," said Brabham. "We just have too many problems to get on top of at the moment, especially because we're racing at the same time. We're trying our best and we can't do much more than that."

Brabham qualified fourth at the La Sarthe track last year and managed to get ahead of the dominant Audis in the opening laps, only to drop back later in the race with gearbox problems. The 35-year-old, however, does not expect to be in the same position this year.

"It's not easy trying to keep your motivation," he said. "I hate losing and so does the team. It's hard coming here knowing we can't win on speed. If we get to the end, it would be a bonus. If we're there at the finish, then maybe we can get into the top 10."

The second Panoz, driven by Jamie Davies, Klaus Graf and Gary Formato, also suffered problems and was thwarted by a driveshaft problem. The team will be hoping both cars come back fighting in the final qualifying sessions on Thursday evening.

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