Déjà Vu at Laguna Seca for Gil de Ferran?

[Editor]

A win at Laguna Seca would send Gil off with a bookend for his driving career as his first 'major' win occured there in his rookie season with Jim Hall/VDS Racing in 1995.


A Special Farewell for Gil de Ferran

Two-time IndyCar Champion and 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran is preparing for a very special send-off when the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca venue in California plays host to the final round of the 2009 American Le Mans Series – the Monterey Sports Car Championships on October 10. The 41-year-old Brazilian announced recently that he will retire from professional driving at the end of this year's season, though he will continue as President of de Ferran Motorsports, the front-running team he established in 2008.

To mark his final race, de Ferran will serve as the race’s Grand Marshal and will be supporting various high-profile, pre-event activities as well as giving the famous “start your engines” command.

Adding to the sense of occasion, the team is preparing a very special livery for his final race. In deference to motorsport legend Jim Hall - the man who gave de Ferran his first drive in IndyCar - the No. 66 XM Radio de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a will feature the famous white color scheme as displayed by Hall's revolutionary Chaparral sports cars during the 1960s and 70s.

de Ferran comments: “It's going to be an emotional occasion and a great honor to be Grand Marshal. Along with Roger Penske and Jackie Stewart, Jim Hall has been one of the three greatest mentors during my career. Interestingly, I won my first IndyCar race with Jim at Laguna in 1995 and enjoyed two successful seasons racing for him when I first came to America. And it’s in respect of what Jim did for me that since we established de Ferran Motorsports, our Acuras have been running the same number 66 that he used on so many of his iconic Chaparrals. Now we are going one step further by recreating the famous Chaparral livery for my final race in California.”

Hall himself will be present at Laguna Seca together with two of his celebrated Chaparral sports cars, plus the yellow Pennzoil IndyCar which de Ferran drove to his milestone maiden victory at the same circuit in 1995. All three cars will be on public display throughout and performing demonstration laps during the event.

“It's very nice that Gil has chosen to honor me in some way at what’s obviously a very special event for him,” says Hall. “We certainly had a good run with him for a couple of years and I really enjoyed watching his career develop thereafter. It gave me a lot of satisfaction seeing him do so well.

“He kindly gives me a lot of credit for the part I played in boosting his career along but Gil did it for himself – he’s the guy with the talent and the skill plus the work ethic needed to succeed. I give him at least 99 percent of the credit but I greatly appreciate the fact that he’s thankful for the part I played in his career.”

de Ferran's racing career began in 1982, and he won titles in multiple series in which he competed including the British Formula Three Championship in 1992 and two IndyCar crowns with the Penske Honda Team in 2000 and 2001. After a short sojourn away from driving he returned to competitive action at the start of 2008 after founding his own de Ferran Motorsports organization with support from Acura. He announced his retirement from competition in August at Mid-Ohio – a venue where he won pole position and the overall race - with aims of continuing the oversight and ownership of his American Le Mans Series program as well as an expansion to open-wheel competition.

Displaying his skills both as a driver and team leader, de Ferran once again has risen to the top. He and his co-driver Simon Pagenaud enjoyed immediate success when competing in the LMP2 class of the 2008 American Le Mans Series championship. Now, having graduated to the premier LMP1 category for 2009, they have posted more outright victories (four) and pole positions (six) than any of their rivals and have a realistic chance of winning the LMP1 title at Laguna Seca.

de Ferran adds: “It would be great to go out on a big high but whatever happens on the track it's going to be a memorable weekend for all of us.”

Editor's note: Race car driver Jim Hall founded Chaparral Cars in the early 1960s and is hailed as one of motorsport’s greatest innovators. With spoilers, high wings and other technical advances, his Chaparral sports cars - always painted white and often running the number 66 - were pioneers in aerodynamics and they forever changed the face of race car design. In later years Hall switched to open-wheelers winning the Indianapolis 500 first as a constructor with Chaparral and then as an entrant. In 1995 he invited Gil de Ferran to race for his team. de Ferran won the 'Rookie of the Year' award in his debut season scoring his first maiden win in the final round of the year at Laguna Seca. Building on this success, de Ferran was a consistent front-runner the following year winning at Cleveland to give Hall, who retired from the sport at the end of the 1996 campaign, a final victory.

The final race in the 2009 American Le Mans Series is the four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. The green flag is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, October 10. The race will air on SPEED from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 11. Live coverage will be available via American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche via americanlemans.com, which also will feature Living Timing & Scoring on Racehub. Live coverage also can be heard on Sirius 126 and XM 242. You can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes) and on our Facebook page.

The race will also mark the 10th and final round of the 2009 MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge. Tickets are available at americanlemans.com and mazdaraceway.com.