Gil de Ferran

File:Deferran.jpg

Gil de Ferran

File:DeferranChampion.jpg

de Ferran won two CART championships in 2000 and 2001

De Ferran at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967) in Paris, France to Brazilian parents, is a former racing driver. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500.

Inspired by the success of fellow Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, de Ferran began his career in kart racing in the early 1980s. He graduated to Formula Ford level in 1987 and Formula Three in 1991. De Ferran won the British Formula Three Championship in 1992, scoring seven wins in the process. 1993 and 1994 were spent driving for Paul Stewart Racing in Formula 3000. De Ferran finished fourth in the series in 1993 and third in 1994.

At the end of 1994 de Ferran was invited to test an IndyCar (now Champ Car) by the Jim Hall team. Despite the worries of the team's sponsor Pennzoil that de Ferran was not famous enough name for their car, the team was sufficiently impressed to offer de Ferran a drive for 1995. With no top-line Formula One drive available de Ferran took up the offer to drive in America.

De Ferran won the rookie of the year award in 1995 by finishing 14th. He scored his first Champ Car win in the last race of the year at Laguna Seca.

In 1996 de Ferran was a consistent challenger but only scored one win, at Cleveland. This win was the last for veteran car owner and driver Jim Hall who retired from the sport at the end of 1996. Hall's retirement also spelled the end of the Pennzoil Hall team. Despite rumours that he would be a driver for the new Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team, de Ferran stayed in America for 1997, joining the Derrick Walker/Valvoline team.

De Ferran finished 1997 as runner-up to Alex Zanardi with ten top-ten finishes but failed to score a single victory. He looked on course to win the season opener at Homestead but was knocked out of the lead by a lapped driver. At Portland he lost out to Mark Blundell in the closest finish in Champ Car history.

The expected championship challenge never materialised in 1998, unreliability, driver errors and the inferior performance of the Goodyear tires compared to the Firestone tires all combined to leave de Ferran 12th in the standings, again with no wins in the year.

In 1999 the breakthrough finally came as de Ferran beat Juan Pablo Montoya at Portland to take his first win since mid-1996 and the Walker team's first since early-1995. However that victory would be the end of an era as Goodyear and Valvoline both left Champ Car racing at the end of 1999. De Ferran signed for a ride with Penske Racing racing for 2000, partnering highly rated Canadian Greg Moore. When Moore was killed in the last race of 1999, the seat went to fellow Brazilian Hélio Castroneves.

The Penske years saw de Ferran finally fulfil the promise of his earlier career with two Champ Car titles and an Indy 500 victory. His analytical approach earned him comparisons with Penske's first driver, the late Mark Donohue. He also garnered praise for his politeness and integrity: when Penske controversially switched to the Indy Racing League in 2002, he did not criticize the move even though it meant he could not defend his Champcar title. Once in the IRL he also did not deride the rival Champ Car series like Al Unser, Jr. and others who had switched sides had done.

Following his Indianapolis triumph de Ferran decided to retire at the end of 2003. He won his final race, although the moment was soured by a terrifying crash during the race that left fellow Indy winner Kenny Bräck seriously injured.

In 2005, he moved to BAR Honda Formula One as their Sports Director.

De Ferran currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his English wife Angela and children Anna (born 1995) and Luke (born 1997).

Champ Car career results

Year	Team	Wins	Points	Championship Finish
1995	Hall/VDS Racing	1	56	14th
1996	Hall/VDS Racing	1	104	6th
1997	Walker Racing	0	162	2nd
1998	Walker Racing	0	67	12th
1999	Walker Racing	1	108	8th
2000	Penske Racing	2	168	1st
2001	Penske Racing	2	199	1st

2 championships, 7 victories

Indy Racing League career results

Year	Team	Wins	Points	Championship Finish
2001	Penske Racing	0	46	28th
2002	Penske Racing	2	443	3rd
2003	Penske Racing	3	489	2nd

0 championships, 5 victories

Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
1995	Reynard	Ilmor-Mercedes	19th	29th
2001	Dallara	Oldsmobile	5th	2nd
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	14th	10th
2003	G-Force	Toyota	10th	1st