De Ferran Returning To Indianapolis 500 As Team Owner In 2010
By Dave Lewandowski
indy500.com
Monday, August 10, 2009
De Ferran, the 2003 Indianapolis 500 champion, announced that he will retire from sports car driving at the completion of the American Le Mans Series season to focus on de Ferran Motorsports entering the IndyCar Series.
"Throughout my career, I've always been driven by challenges," de Ferran said at a news conference at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. "While I've enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the No. 66 XM Radio DFM Acura ARX-02a, my main focus moving forward is to continue to build our team into a world-class motorsports organization.
"I feel that by returning to the cockpit for the past year, I have been competitive and added value to our team as a driver. Overall, I also feel we succeeded in developing this program to a point where I can now step down and dedicate 100 percent of my time to expanding our team."
Robert Clarke, retired president of Honda Performance Development who is executive director of de Ferran Motorsports, also is dedicated to the program.
"It's been in the works since I came on board," Clarke said of the IndyCar Series plan. "I think we have some decent prospects on sponsorship and some unique ideas that could be appealing to sponsors. We have a lot of energy for it; we're working around the clock.
"Back in the '90s when I was with HPD and he was (an Indy car driver), I knew his skill as a driver. I knew his engineering background and the quality of his technical feedback. Gil clearly added value to our Indy car program and helped us achieve what it achieved. I think the time out of the seat when he was at Honda (Sporting Director of the F1 program) developed business skills that he didn't know he had and clearly I didn't know he had. He's strategic in his thinking, innovative, creative and able to think of the big picture even though he's a guy who looks at the details."
Sponsorship details certainly don't escape de Ferran, who recently moved his family from the United Kingdom to the Miami area.
"(Running two cars in the IndyCar Series and ALMS) is a dream, and part of the reason I'm stepping out of the cockpit is to fulfill this dream," de Ferran said. "The (IndyCar Series) is so competitive that if we want to run well, the sooner we start the better. The secret of this sport, which is really no secret at all, is preparation. We need time, we need skilled personnel, and we need money. If we start too late, our chances of being competitive from the start diminish.
"We have great partnerships today, and you need good partners to move forward. Expanding to IndyCar is a natural. My background is mostly in Indy car; it's a sport I understand well, and I know a lot of the personnel. I'm confident we can attract additional talented personnel to make this team work well, which is the key to our success."
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De Ferran, whose racing career began in 1982, retired from open-wheel racing at the conclusion of the 2003 IndyCar Series season -- and a victory at Texas Motor Speedway with Team Penske. He was preceded in victory at Indianapolis in 2001 and '02 by teammate Helio Castroneves.
"Whoever is going to drive for him better be patient because those meetings take forever that he will have," said Castroneves, who added his third Indy 500 victory this May. "He's certainly showed that he's a great driver and a great person, and I wish him all the success in the world to have an great (IndyCar Series) team so we can compete against each other now though he'll be monitoring instead of driving."
Immediately upon his retirement, de Ferran worked as an announcer for ABC/ESPN before moving to Formula One. He started de Ferran Motorsports in 2008.
"I didn't come here looking for a job as a driver, but the opportunity to work with the Acura motorsports program was something that I really looked forward to," de Ferran said. "It was an opportunity for me to establish a team and to play a similar role in the cockpit that I played before. My time is done. I fulfilled my objective, and now I'm looking to develop and expand the team."
The team, with co-driver Simon Pagenaud, also has included reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in endurance races at Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans last October) and Sebring (12-hour race).
"He's told me he has an interest in IndyCar racing, and we'll always search for the best drivers," de Ferran said when asked if former F1 driver Takuma Sato, who attended the Indianapolis 500 in May, would be on his short list to join the IndyCar Series program. "Having the right guys pushing the pedals is a priority for any team that wants to be competitive. I think the driver plays a key role on the development and the competitiveness of the team.
"Speaking of Sato, I had the pleasure of working with him in Formula One. He was tremendously successful in the lower formulas and is really competitive."
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Tickets for the final event in 2009 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30 - can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time.
Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.
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